How to get rid of Mexican druglords

In case you haven't been watching the news, our neighbor Mexico has an epic problem with drug lords. Murders, kidnapping, intimidation, protection rackets are all thriving and growing at an incredible rate. Police and judges are being murdered with impunity in the streets. The police commissioner of Juarez (I think that's where he was) resigned in the last couple of days because of a threat to kill one law enforcement official every 48 hours (two were actually assasinated) until the commissioner resigned. So he did. The country's mess is even being called "a grave security threat to the United States" by officials here.

As we all wring our hands and shake our heads, let me inject one little tid-bit of reason into the discussion. The US could bring an utter and complete collapse of the whole Mexican Drug Lord problem in a year or less with just one stroke of a pen. And it wouldn't cost any money. How? By decriminalizing marijuana. Pot grows perfectly well in the US. If it were decriminalized, American agriculture could grow enough pot to supply the whole country in just one season. And with a couple of million tons of the good stuff flooding the market, the price would drop through the floor, thereby cutting off funds for the Mexican bad guys to buy weapons and to pay their thugs. I'm not saying this would make them good people, just that it would remove their ability to acquire the ordinance to create mayhem. Additionally, this would keep a lot of money in this country, and it would keep a bunch of hapless American potheads out of jail, where they can contribute to society instead of costing us all money. Additionally, a legitimate market for the product would allow some basic quality control, and most likely be a new source of taxes. Right now our illegal market is funding some of the most evil and vicious criminals in the world. One quick change to the law will divert those funds back into our own economy, and leave the criminals scrambling to find another source of income (think cigarettes, Jose... $75.00 a carton represents some serious upside profit potential!).

Do I think this will happen? No! But I want to toss out the idea, because it should be considered when the Department of Homeland Security insists the only way to address the security threat caused by the narco-trafficers is to invade Mexico, or to take other military action. Gringo dollars are the main source of funding for the trafficers' war chests. Gringos are getting their pot, one way or another. Why not let Farmer Brown grow and sell it to his neighbors. It's way better than sending the Marines into Tijuana and Juarez, Jalisco and Oaxaca and Michouacan. It will be a great new tax revenue source for hard-strapped state governments, and it might even keep little Timmy the neighbor's kid out of jail. Think about it.