Friday, July 31, 2009

The Way Out of the War on Drugs

Carlos Fuentes called the war on drugs an aimless war on everyone in a recent speech: 
The solution is to elevate the quality of life of Mexicans, that is the formula to avoid crimes. 
That is a certainly a worthy end in and of itself, but I don't think it's a complete solution for Mexico's drug ills. Mexico had a respectable economic performance from 2002 to 2007, yet organized crime exploded during that time period. I'd welcome some deeper examples that prove or disprove my thesis, but it would seem that the existence and violence of criminal gangs in Mexico is not much dependent on the economy. 

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