Facts About the Drug War in Mexico

There should be clarity on the matter of the drug war in Mexico before any decisions are made against travelling to this remarkable nation. So many people fail to understand the diversity and richness of the Mexican culture and economy. As the world’s twelfth largest economy, it is as stable and productive as it is mysterious and beautiful.

That being said, there has been a great misunderstanding across the world at large about the true nature of the drug war in Mexico. The perception of the current state of affairs as a national crisis that threatens the very heart and soul of the nation is categorically FALSE. Both the reason for the struggle with drug cartels, and the geographic areas purportedly under their control have been misreported by sensationalists seeking to make a buck.

The current drug war in Mexico is concentrated along the northern border of Mexico. It is here that marijuana is being moved into the United States. Demand on our side of the border has created an underground business for the drug cartels that produces several billion dollars of revenue each year. Drug lords infiltrate the impoverished cities along the border, taking advantage of the weak economies in these areas to set up bases of operation. Some have workers who have infiltrated our nation, who are growing marijuana for the drug lords using our national parks as agricultural land for their product.

Because this is basically an import operation of a controlled substance passed across the border of one nation to the other, the conflict is concentrated along the lines of distribution and flows according to the principles of supply and demand. The killing that always results from this type of underground business activity is concentrated only in these areas where the drug is being passed into the United States, and where the Mexican authorities are now using armed force to destroy the power of drug lords. In many ways this resembles arms trading in the Middle East, with a desire for power on one side of the border driving a supply chain to meet that demand from the other side of the border. However in this case it is demand for a drug our own nation in some ways tolerates and makes excuses for that is driving this entire cycle.

Do not blame Mexico for the demand of Americans to break laws in both countries for the sake of getting stoned. The majority of Mexican people are far more indignant about the use of marijuana than people in our own nation, and they are very disappointed that our sensationalist media has painted their culture and their flag with a brush that is the wrong color of green.

They are also very disappointed that the misrepresentation of the true facts about the drug war in Mexico has resulted in people cancelling their vacations to Mexican resorts that are actually safer than many of our own US cities. There is absolutely no drug war going on in any of the central or coastal areas of the country. Stop looking at those silly maps with marijuana-colored ink showing the so-called drug lord controlled areas of Mexico. They are fantasy and fiction, not fact.

Vacation destinations are as far removed from the true geography of the drug war in Mexico as Disneyworld is from Detroit. While we are all aware that many college students who go to places like Cancun deliberately seek out marijuana and other drugs—and unfortunately get their hands on them—to date we have had no reports of any abductions or killings related to the deals made between Spring Breakers and local street dealers.

Rumors that an American couple had been abducted in Mazatlan were later found to be false after thorough investigation. The persons abducted were later determined to be citizens of Cuba, one of whom had defected to Mexico, and not US citizens as initial reports had suggested.