In 1971 President Nixon declared war on drugs. This was the time of the counterculture with millions of young Americans turning to marijuana, cocaine, and other drugs to feel the “high” that so many wanted to feel. Soldiers returning from Vietnam, where many had sampled the potent dope known as Cambodian Red, created  higher demand for illicit substances. It was the thing to do. Timothy Leary said, “turn on, tune in, drop out.” Then, as now, most of the illicit drugs came from Mexico and the focus quickly became one of interdiction. Stopping the supply was considered the best strategy. Nixon’s intentions were good but U.S. science and health experts warned that a law enforcement approach, with the added militarization of the Mexico-U.S border, would not work. And the experts were right.

Since 1971 this country has spent $1 trillion of taxpayer money attempting to stop the flow of drugs, more recently the deadly fentanyl, which last year killed 80,000 people. This is a reduction in the number of deaths, but it is still much too high. The truth is that we are still awash in illegal drugs with no end in sight in spite of the massive amounts of money, the border walls, the huge numbers of armed border guards, and other myriad resources dedicated to their eradication. Journalists, medical and DEA professionals, politicians, and many concerned observers have commented on the tragedy of the victims consumed by this scourge, urging for more effective solutions, but to no avail. 

The war continues, now reaching a fully violent turn, as we see with the Mexican Army’s killing of “El Mencho,” the leader of the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación, the most vicious crime syndicate in Mexico, responsible for thousands of deaths in Mexico, and for shipping billions of dollars worth of fentanyl and other poison to the United States. Tragically for Mexico, the American and Mexican governments’ emphasis on police and military strategies has contributed very significantly to a mind-boggling literal genocide. It’s not extreme to say it. We can classify as genocide the deaths of 360,000 mostly impoverished Mexicans since 2006, victims of the war between the Mexican government and the cartels, among the cartels themselves,  and, we must admit, the perilous crossing of a militarized U.S. border. This is according to the Mexico Solidarity Project, a U.S.–based think tank whose purpose is to advise the Mexican and U.S. governments about alternative methods of drug control. It’s high time that we realized that all the force we have applied to the problem has simply not worked. There are now thousands of Border Patrol officers, regular U.S. Army infantry troops, 20-foot high walls, drones, helicopters, radar, razor wire, etc., but the stuff still gets through.

This is not to say that we should abandon a law enforcement approach. It is to say that we need a diversified approach. We can ask: why has the War on Drugs largely failed to achieve its goal of bringing relief to both the U.S. and Mexico? The main reason is that in the U.S. the demand side of the equation has been almost completely ignored. Very little of that $1 trillion has gone for rehabilitation of users, for the intensive interventions necessary to wean addicts off the poisons that are killing them. The best sources say that only 6.5 percent of those needing help get it. Treatment is not a luxury. We must somehow end the insatiable craving for drug fixes that drives the drug epidemic. The billions of dollars for drugs are here. The wealth is here. It is not in Mexico. The problem would not exist if Americans with the money to buy drugs could be cured of their addictions. We have brought this plague upon ourselves. 

But what about El Mencho, the vicious criminal? Wasn’t that a victory in the war? Yes, we killed him, providing the crucial intelligence to the Mexican Army that accomplished the deed. Unfortunately, it was a whack-a-mole job, as all such military-style assassinations are. A new leader is about to pop up. But not before El Mencho’s henchmen drive law-abiding citizens mad with fear, shut down highways and airports, kill dozens of Mexican soldiers and spill rivers of blood as they fight to inherit his mantle. 

Joe Barrera, Ph.D., is the former director of the Ethnic Studies Program at UCCS. He teaches Mexico-U.S. Border Studies and U.S. Military History. He is a combat veteran of the Vietnam War.