# 2 Article of the Year

Global Drug Trafficking

                In America seventy percent of the drugs that are used as a source of distribution are believed to be a result of the Mexican cartels. This number has increased ever since Nixon declared the War on Drugs in 1971 and the same goes for narcotic based incarcerations. As of 2010 the US has spent 15 billion dollars total fighting this war and has failed to prevail as the United States leads the world in illegal drug use. Some dawn this war as unwinnable and a waste of expenses.

“Drug related deaths in the US are at an all time high and this is terrible,” said sophomore Nicholas Grantham.

                In fact, the War on Drugs in Mexico is so violent that the body count is almost 10 times that of the real wars being fought currently in Iraq and Afghanistan. Also, since 1998 the global consumption of both cocaine and cannabis has had a dramatic increase of also 50 percent.

“The drug trade is basically a government scam,” said sophomore Shaniora Buford.

This problem is so in-depth that if the drug trade was a country it’d have the 19^th largest economy in the world and this goes to show how much wealth those behind and operating this global trade union are acquiring as the world becomes fonder of these illegal narcotics, concluding the worth of the trade alone is $320 billion.

“I think it’s a huge issue and the only way to breakthrough it especially the drug trade is to legalize these items,” said Anthony Bowers.

                While owning a weapon in Mexico is strictly prohibited, ninety percent of the guns smuggled into Mexico come from the United States alone. In the Department of Justice’s covert  operation Fast and Furious dozens of weapons were lost as a result a failed tracking system implemented on the firearms given to the cartels. Those weapons ended up in the hands of cartel members which recently led to the death of an Border Patrol agent.

                The cartels have multiple ways of smuggling narcotics into the United States. Drugs have been found in tables, toys, furniture, candles, and even tennis shoes. Recently, drugs have been shot over the border from canons from Mexico.