IN EL PASO, WE LIVE THE DRUG WAR

Mary O'Grady's March 22 Americas column "The War on Drugs Is Doomed"
is one of the best pieces ever written on the connection between U.S.
drug policy and drug violence in Mexico. I just hope it can inform
public policy discussions.

I am on the City Council of El Paso, Texas, across the border from
Ciudad Juarez, where more than 5,000 people have been killed since
President Calderon was elected. We are living the drug war, and it
has been disastrous for our community.

In addition to bearing witness to the horrific killings of men, women
and children in our sister city, it has become very clear to us that
the failure of Juarez portends the failure of El Paso.

Juarenses spend more than $1.4 billion in our economy every year;
more than $51 billion in U.S./Mexico trade passes through El
Paso/Juarez ports of entry annually (almost 20% of trade between the
two countries); Juarez economic activity is responsible for 60,000
jobs in El Paso; and, as you might imagine, family, business and
other relationships extend over the border and are the basis of much
of the economic and cultural success that we enjoy. It is clearly in
our interest to find a solution to this drug violence, and it is
clear that central to that solution is acknowledging the role of drug
consumption and drug prohibition in the U.S.

Ms. O'Grady has done an outstanding job through her columns in
educating the public on the connection between drug consumption, drug
prohibition and drug violence. Communities like ours are dependent on
a better understanding and eventual action by our national elected leaders.

Beto O'Rourke

El Paso City Council

District 8

El Paso, Texas