UCSD to Draft Binational Security Report for Next President of Mexico

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Mexico’s war on the drugs needs to be reassessed.
The wave of violence ravaging through Mexico says so, as does the growing addiction crisis in the United States, however, there is no plan in sight aimed at attacking the root of the problem.
In 2017, Mexico suffered its highest homicide rate, while in the U.S. deaths due to drug overdoses skyrocketed. 
These were some of the issued addressed by academics, journalists, and public officials from both sides of the border at a forum hosted by UC San Diego’s Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies.
“Neither the American people nor the people of Mexico can afford to keep being complacent; we must acknowledge that we are losing the war on drugs and organized crime resoundingly,” said Rafael Fernandez de Castro, director of the Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies.
The forum’s intent was not merely to discuss the issues, but rather to brainstorm toward the drafting of a binational report to be provided to both the U.S. Congress and whomever becomes the new President of Mexico.
“We have to demand for candidates and eventually the incoming President to change strategy, because we are paying a very high price, while achieving practically nothing,” added Fernandez de Castro.
During this election year south of the border, security was supposed to be front and center in the platforms of presidential hopefuls, however, the issue has yet to rear its head, according to analysts.
Vidal Romero, a professor at Mexico’s Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo, stated that what little has been heard thus far have been “very vague proposals” that offer no new or innovative solutions.
“It has rather been a continuation of the fallacy that, somewhere out there in the universe, there is some ultimate public policy that will do away with drugs and cartels, and that it is just a matter of finding it. I don’t think that’s the right approach to combating this issue,” he expressed.
Participating panelists agreed that the approach of focusing all energy on Mexican cartel leaders has not worked, and all it has done is to destabilize these organizations, leading to more violence in the streets.
“The problem is not the criminal organizations per se, but rather the drug market,” said Romero, citing ideas that have been proposed from decriminalizing drugs to addressing them as a public health issue.
Drug-trafficking-related violence in Mexico and Latin America has grown to “intolerable levels,” shared Vanda Felbab-Brown, an analyst for the Washington, D.C. non-profit Brookings Institution.
Last year, there were a record 29,168 deaths in Mexico, although not all can be attributed to the war on drugs. 
As an example, she cited the case of East Asia, where there is a great deal of both drug smuggling and drug use, but crime rates remain relatively low.
“The core issue is that, in Latin America, law enforcement has lost all control; criminals can get away with heinous behavior,” she said. In contrast, East Asia law enforcement agencies have been able to deter drug-smuggling-related violence.