Amid the rapidly rising domestic human toll, coupled by Mexico's anti-DEA policy shift, Washington is forced to recalibrate the country's anti-narcotics strategy. The failings in the existing approach with Mexico should not deter the U.S. from engaging third-party countries integral to the synthetic drug supply chain, since there is more room for joint partnership with China and India. Together they can thwart criminal organizations at points of production and shipping through enforcement coordination and regulatory action.
Now, to make the volume of corruption in Mexico even worse, U.S. agents -- our protectors--have been accused of misconduct for overlooking abuses and occasionally partaking in money laundering. While we move quickly to remove any such corrupt agents, Mexico needs to do the same. The U.S. should juridically strangulate black-market exchanges, by targeting social infrastructure between Mexican cartels and their domestic accomplices. There has to be a better concerted campaign on external and internal supply disruption to offer an alternative to the counternarcotic program in action, and to make better use of strained personnel. There needs to be a will to stop the drug flow on both sides of the border.
Robert Weiner was a spokesman for the House Government Operations Committtee, senior staff for Cong. Claude Pepper, Ed Koch, John Conyers, Charles Rangel, Sen. Ted Kennedy, and the drug policy office of the Clinton and George W. Bush White Houses and Drug Policy Director McCaffrey. Joshua Himelfarb is a policy analyst at Robert Weiner Associates and Solutions for Change.
(Article changed on Dec 10, 2022 at 11:34 PM EST)
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