The United States loses thousands of people every year from drug overdoses and drug poisonings. Most of those deaths are related to the use of synthetic opioids such as fentanyl. On the other hand, thousands of Mexicans die at the hands of drug cartels using guns trafficked from the U.S. Drug violence occurs in our two countries fueled by the demand for drugs along with the widespread availability of military-style weapons in the U.S.
This multibillion-dollar criminal business touches the very core of our societies, following the deadly path of chemical precursors coming from Asia, drugs going north — transported and distributed within the United States — and guns and bulk cash crossing the border to the south, leaving death, corruption and broken families everywhere.
For many decades, we have faced extremely complex problems surrounding the consumption, trafficking and production of drugs. History has repeatedly demonstrated that a “strategy” of threats, finger-pointing and hollow narratives created for political purposes never works.
