U.S. POLICIES PROVE FATAL

The article describing the horrific massacre in Monterrey, Mexico,
failed to note an important aspect of this story for U.S. readers:
our complicity.

The drug war wreaking death and destruction just south of the border
is fueled by drug prohibition and lax gun control.

The majority of profits feeding the Mexican mafia derives from the
sale of marijuana to U.S. markets. This is profitable because
marijuana is illegal, just as rum running was profitable during the
era of alcohol prohibition.

The mafia uses these profits to buy powerful weapons that are readily
available in the U.S. I lived in Colombia during the cocaine wars of
the 1980s and saw firsthand the devastating effects of the toxic
combination of the U.S. drug war and gun policy on that nation.

Over the years the drug cartels have moved their operations steadily
northward, and they are now on our doorstep.

As we continue to incarcerate citizens for possession of small
amounts of marijuana and continue to deregulate the sale of powerful
weapons, we should be conscious of the collateral damage these
policies cause for our Latin neighbors and, increasingly, for our own security.

Jonathan Lynch Boalsburg