MEXICO'S DRUG PROBLEMS ARE OURS, AND VICE VERSA

Two hundred years ago, Mexico's quest for independence from Spain was
marked with a grisly spectacle. After death by firing squad, the head
of rebellion leader Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla was hacked from his
corpse and displayed for years on the corner of a public building.
Spanish colonialists wanted to send a message to any Mexicans who had
different ideas about who ought to rule their land.

It didn't work. Ten years later, after much blood spilt, Mexico
gained its independence from Spain.

This September 15 marks the bicentennial of Hidalgo's rebellion, and
the festivities throughout Mexico can be expected to be on a grand
scale. Yet they will be haunted as well, by the return of the same
macabre brutality meted out to the "Father of the Nation" 200 years ago.

Today, decapitations have returned as a way to send a message to
Mexicans. Heads are literally rolled into public squares as the drug
cartels assert their power over government efforts to control them.
Mutilated corpses are hung from bridges. Police, soldiers, elected
officials and journalists are favorite targets.

Two hundred years after Hidalgo uttered his famous cry or "grito" to
begin the insurgency against Spain, Mexico must free itself from this
devil within or risk a new form of colonization.

Shocking numbers of people are being slain. An estimated 28,000
people have died in drug-gang violence since President Felipe
Calderon took office and began pushing against the cartels in 2006.
Indeed, Calderon recently admitted that the cartels now run more than
mere drug distribution routes. They are challenging the government
for control of the country.

"This criminal behavior ... has changed and become a defiance to the
state, an attempt to replace the state," he said at an August session
on national security in Mexico City.

The escalating violence has largely resulted from Calderon's decision
to unleash the military into the situation, triggering fierce battles
as the cartels war among themselves to maintain control of drug
routes. The cartels once operated with impunity, aided by corrupt
allies in the police, the judiciary and government offices. A
notorious example of corruption was one of Mexico's former drug czars
who in the mid-1990s was discovered to be on the take from drug
lords. Ridding itself of such ingrained rot is one of Mexico's
greatest challenges.

Despite the seemingly endless bloodshed, this battle is winnable. In
fact, it must be won or Mexico risks going backward. Crackdowns on
the cartels and attempts to rein in corruption are an extension of
reforms that began in 2000, when Mexico wrested its presidency from
seven decades of control by one party.

It's too easy for Americans to recoil in horror from these lurid
stories, to point fingers at Mexico as some sort of "failed state."
But our complicity is undeniable. We are the market for the Mexican
drug cartels. These ruthless criminal gangs exist, and people die, to
place meth, coke and heroin into eager U.S. hands.

What's more, a large proportion of the guns and ammo used in Mexico's
drug violence come from the U.S. They are bought legally at gun shows
or at gun shops along the border and then shipped south. One way the
U.S. could impact the violence would be to clamp down on the gun
traffic with better monitoring of sales.

The U.S. gun lobby won't hear of it. Sorry, they'll tell you, the
Second Amendment means never having to admit responsibility.

Our own wasteful efforts in the War on Drugs have yielded few results
beyond packing our prisons with small-time users. Some argue that
decriminalization of certain drugs would alleviate the crime problem
associated with them. Or perhaps we could help curb drug use by
making treatment more accessible to addicts. But we need to reduce
demand, and what we're doing isn't working.

The White House will no doubt soon send its sincere congratulatory
sentiments to Mexico on its bicentennial. But we can't limit
ourselves to diplomatic graciousness. We need to recognize that
Mexico is at a critical turning point. How the forces of justice and
order fare in the Mexican drug war depends on what we do north of the
border. And if the drug lords prevail, we will feel the consequences.