Silly

Imagen Radio and Excelsior have an online/phone poll with the following question:

The United States says that in order to end kidnapping in Mexico, it's necessary to eliminate drug trafficking. Do you agree?

So far, 60 percent of respondents are in the wrong, i.e. answering yes, they do agree.

I'm not familiar with the statement that the question refers to, and it's possible that the person making it meant that Mexico should look at drug trafficking and kidnapping as related phenomenon, that it should treat them as part of the same broad problem. That's laudable. However, the poll seems to imply that Mexico will always have kidnappers until it no longer has drug traffickers. That's laughable. Drug-traffickers and smugglers have thrived in northern Mexico for more than a century; rampant kidnapping is a relatively recently trend. The United States has its own problems with drug traffickers, but kidnapping syndicates like those operating in Mexico don't exist. Essentially, the opposite of the poll's premise is true: eliminating drug trafficking will almost certainly cause a spike in abductions. As Mexico cracks down on drug trafficking, cartels look elsewhere for sources of cash, holding rich folks for ransom being a logical option. As we have seen in Tijuana, Torreón, and other cities that don't begin with the letter T, separating drug smugglers from their product often precipitates a rise in kidnapping.