We can look at the illegal drug problem, first as an individual tragedy, something that destroys ordinary lives and secondly, and probably more importantly, as an enormous business that moves billions of dollars beyond the control of legitimate state authority and which corrupts said authority in a worldwide chain of crime and violence that degrades the lives of millions of people, especially in poor and disorganized societies.
“Poor Mexico, so far from God and so close to the United States.” — Porfirio Diaz
The oft repeated quote above has become a classic because it would be impossible to condense more truth in fewer words. Continuing in this long tradition, the insatiable appetite of Americans for “recreational” drugs, and America’s endless supply of freely available automatic weapons for Mexican narcos is literally destroying Mexico.