VICTIMLESS CRIME? TELL THAT TO CORDOVA FAMILY

During the coming holiday week many will turn to illegal recreational
drugs. For some it will be an occasional dabble with an illicit
substance to get silly for a time and forget life's burdens. For
others it will be part of an ongoing way of life. For some people
their use is, or soon will be, an addiction that separates them from
normality and estranges them from loved ones.

But for few will it be a "victimless crime."

Yes, there will be the occasional marijuana user who partakes of a
crop grown over the summer in a yard or in a neighbor's basement. Most
users, however, neither know nor care where the substance they use
originated.

Before they claim that they are not hurting anyone, they should
consider the headlines from Mexico last week. The country held a
memorial for 3rd Petty Officer Ensign Melquisedet Angulo Cordova,
killed during a military raid on ruthless drug lord Arturo Beltran
Leyva, who also died in the attack.

Officer Cordova was no less a hero than U.S. soldiers who give their
lives in the war against terrorism. He was fighting an internal
Mexican enemy, part of a drug trade that has corrupted its police
forces, its government bureaucracy and turned its children into brutal
killers in a never-ending fight for drug turf.

The tragedy of Officer Cordova's death turned to absolute horror when,
on the night of his memorial service, drug cartel commandos armed with
automatic weapons burst into his mother's home and cold-bloodily
gunned down her, his aunt, a sister and a brother.

"Our insatiable demand for illegal drugs fuels the drug trade,"
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told reporters on a plane trip to
Mexico last March. "Our inability to prevent weapons from being
illegally smuggled across the border causes the deaths of police,
of soldiers and civilians."

There are victims.

The Mexican Drug War, and war it is, would not be taking place but for
the U.S. market for marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamine and heroin,
drugs that either originate in Mexico or are smuggled through it. Drug
cartels in Mexico control approximately 70 percent of the foreign
narcotics that flow into the United States, including 90 percent of
the cocaine, according to the State Department.

Since Mexican President Felipe Calderon took office in 2006 and vowed
to aggressively go after the cartels, about 15,000 people have died in
drug-related violence, with drug gang members killing one another,
police or civilians caught in the crossfire.

As drugs move north across the border in vehicles, through elaborate
tunnels, on mini-submarines or carried in the intestines of human
"mules," powerful assault weapons purchased in the U.S. move south to
arm the cartels' foot soldiers. The United States is morally obligated
to do something about the too easy access to guns.

But that would not change the demand problem. If the U.S. cannot do a
better job about that then the drug kingpins will continue to arise,
no matter how many soldiers Mexico focuses on the problem.

U.S. officials must consider all options in addressing this crisis.
Some states are experimenting with decriminalization and even
legalization of marijuana, which could undercut illegal syndicates,
encourage domestic growth and generate tax revenues.

Yet for some drugs legalization is not even a reasonable option, given
the addictions and social disruptions that would result. But what the
U.S. cannot do is forget it is part of this problem. The country owes
that much to the heroes south of the border.