Mexican Drug Violence Intertwined With US Demand for Illegal Drugs
- Thomas B. Cole, MD, MPH
Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text.
Virtually every week brings reports of the latest episodes of drug-related violence in Mexico that has claimed the lives of thousands over the past few years. To rein in these violent eruptions, the Mexican government has deployed its military and police to fight the major drug cartels that control the lucrative distribution networks that bring illegal drugs into the United States.
But some experts say that the trafficking of illegal drugs, like all businesses, is one of both supply and demand and that the demand side—those who abuse drugs—also should be targeted. These experts propose that a concerted effort to quash demand by making treatment for substance abuse available to those who need it would make the drug trafficking enterprise significantly less profitable.
Mexico's escalating drug war fills morgues in border cities with bodies awaiting autopsies. Here, bodies crowd a walk-in refrigerator in the border city of Ciudad Juarez. According …
