Drug Abuse Prevention Task Force

By Ralph E. Stone

March 30, 2009

Recently, President Obama promised to send more money, technology, and manpower to help Mexico fight the drug cartels. This is not just foreign aid; it is also a recognition that Mexico’s war on drugs has also become a homeland security problem. U.S. law enforcement officials have identified at least 230 U.S. cities, including Anchorage, Atlanta, and Boston, where Mexican drug cartels or their affiliates maintain drug distribution networks or supply drug to distributors. And border states like Arizona have suffered a rise in drug-related crime attributed to the Mexican drug cartels. Marijuana is the largest cash crop in the United States, more valuable than corn and wheat combined, and many of the marijuana plantations run by drug cartels are hidden in our federal and state parklands.

What about the demand for drugs in the U.S.? Programs for addressing U.S. drug demand are largely underfunded. Historically, our committment to drug prevention has been heavily weighted on the supply side. This seems a short-sighted view. After all, it is the high demand for illicit drugs in the U.S., which fuels the Mexican drug trade.

The U.S. is the world’s largest consumer of cocaine (shipped from Colombia through Mexico and the Caribbean), Colombian heroin, and Mexican heroin and marijuana, and is a major consumer of ecstasy and Mexican methamphetamines. Illicit drugs exact an enormous toll on our society, taking as many as 52,000 lives annually and draining the economy of an estimated $160 billion a year. Everyone pays the toll in the form of higher healthcare costs, dangerous neighborhoods, and an overcrowded criminal justice system. What is needed is increased funding for federal and local drug law enforcement, increased sanctions for illicit drug dealers, and treatment, prevention, education, and recovery support services, as well as research to identify and promote strategies to reduce demand.

As long as there is a demand for illicit drugs, there will be a supply.