O'ROURKE COLUMN

Mr. O'Rourke's recent op-ed piece titled "Better options are needed to
stop Juarez violence" baldly asserts that criminal activity in Mexico
is caused by U.S. laws.

As justification he points out that Mexican consumers add $2 billion a
year to our economy and trots out the prohibition canard, suggesting
that legalizing activity now illegal would raise enough revenue to
solve the problem.

Well, just what is the problem Mr. O'Rourke seeks to solve? Is it
violence or a lack of revenue? And, if U.S. law is somehow causing
Mexican drug lords to kill, how will changing a local law bring peace
among these criminals?

The logic appears to be that harmful, immoral behavior is only so
because of the approbation calling it illegal. And when lawlessness is
no longer illegal, then such conduct will no longer be immoral or harmful.

Mr. O'Rourke's sentence, "I do not know if ending the prohibition ...
of currently illegal drugs is the right answer" is probably the only
accurate sentence in the article, and captures the sum of his
contribution to the issue of border violence.

Bob Jeska

Las Cruces