We Have a Problem

There is this headline madlib in Mexico:

(Number) Killed in (Mexican State) as Drug Violence Spirals into (superlative) Shitstorm: Victims Bear Signs of Torture.

So here is the deal guys: narcotráfico is a big problem.

So basically, if you know someone that buys coca products, snub them. Snub them with all your might. Make them feel small.

Why? I will explain. The Mexican government feels like the only appropriate response to violence perpetrated by narcos is of course the perpetration of violence against suspected drug runners. Um, okay, but how are we at the point where Human Rights Watch is on their case for raping women--no shit, the Mexican military has seen incidences of its rank-and-file raping women taken prisoner in the Drug War.

So hereś my thesis: the narco-industry is a purely capitalist pursuit.

Letś face it: there are few ways to get rich in Mexico. Narco dealings are a pretty accessible route, ironically enough. And why is that? Short story, the way I see it, is that as long as people in the US are shelling out big wads of money to stuff their noses full of psychotropic baby powder, itś going to be a profitable business. Ergo, this drug thing is not going anywhere. If capitalist training does one thing to us, itś this: we will do ANYTHING to make the most money we can.

Iḿ going to take a moment to acknowledge that Iḿ nobodyś economist. I passed ECN 1A by the grace of a witch doctor I hired to drug the professor. Iḿ kidding. But itś true that I by no means get economics. But hereś my primitive little foray anyhow:

Drug runners make so much money doing what they do because people pay them money for their effort.

The object of the Drug War is to make the drug economy collapse by means of impeding production, transport and sale of such using all forms of violence. The hope is that either all the drug people will die and nobody will take their place because the risk of having your eyeballs torn out by a policeman far outweighs the potential benefit of rolling in a heap of money. Iḿ pretty sure that slaughter, torture, field-burning and such are effective ways to raise the expenses of the enterprise, as well, but is it the only way?

My question is, why did they have to go the brutal violence route? There are a lot of ways for government to create economic incentives or disincentives. Clearly weŕe not going to just make the mass of coked up freaks in LA kick the habit en masse for the sake of the Mexican People. Okay, thatś out. How about lowering the price of cocaine by glutting the market? I mean, that sounds silly, but then again, so does militarizing the shit out of the country, terrorizing the people and inciting a barrage of anti-police and anti-military violence that costs the lives of dozens at a time on both sides and frankly is costing the American government shit-tons of money, which would be better used finding ways to STOP violence, not fund its institutionalization. Yes, thatś right, American Taxpayer: you are funding the War on Drugs in Mexico. Congratulations.

So thatś why I say, that in order to save the Mexican authorities some trouble, and hopefully your fellow citizens some cash, go ahead and viciously ostracise the next coke user you find. Letś be fair here: itś the American market thatś incentivizing the enterprise thatś resulting in mass murder by outlaws and authorities alike, and bringing down innocent people with it. So whoś paying the price? Puro Mexicano, y te digo que este no es justicia. Letś pick up some of this slack, and stop pretending our hands are clean. Let´s take a little social responsibility here.