DRUG WAR: A DESTRUCTIVE, IMMORAL DOMESTIC POLICY

The State Department should be commended for speaking out against the
recent murders of U.S. government employees and their spouses in
Ciudad Juarez and for pledging additional economic and intelligence
resources to combat the utter lawlessness south of the border. Such
actions are long overdue. However, your editorial misses the root
causes of drug violence as underscored in a Journal news article by
Ana Campoy published the same day ("Mexico's Violence Never Far From
El Paso"). The high demand within the U.S. for marijuana, cocaine and
other drugs and the steady flow of assault weapons and money from our
country to Mexico keeps the business going.

Congress and the Obama administration must seriously focus on drug
prevention, drug rehabilitation, reintegrating former drug offenders
into society and stopping the flow of weapons and cash across the border.

Despite the escalation of gun-related violence both north and south
of the border, many individuals and organizations in this country
continue to spread the misguided view that any restriction on the
production or sale of firearms is un-American and contrary to the
Second Amendment. I would urge these individuals to read the entire
amendment: "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security
of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall
not be infringed." How exactly do assault weapons benefit the
security of our country or make it more free? How is the free flow of
automatic machine guns within our country and south of the border
into the hands of drug gangs and murderous thugs consistent with the
Second Amendment provision for "a well regulated Militia"?

So long as our country continues to focus almost all of its attention
and resources on preventing violence and capturing violent offenders
south of the border rather than on the root causes of such violence
that lie north of the border, we are doomed to face additional
drug-addicted Americans and drug-related violence in Mexico for many
years to come. It is always far easier to try to change others than
to look in the mirror and see what we can and should change in ourselves.

Joshua Niederman

Palo Alto, Calif.