There is no question that these killings constitute terrorism, and there can be no doubt that United States drug policy is creating and sustaining these terrorist groups. The death toll dwarfs that of 9/11, and the killings are often carried out in the most brutal and torturous manner (beheading, disemboweling, and dissolving victims alive in acid), and yet Americans consider these victims of our drug war to be little more than an afterthought.
But even for those who believe that one American's life is worth that of a thousand Mexicans, it is impossible to ignore the danger of intentionally breeding massive terrorist groups in a neighboring country with which we share an extremely porous border. Drug terrorism has already spilled across the border, and it will only get worse as the Mexican government is rapidly losing any semblance of control over the situation.
The solution is simple. Legalize drugs. And I don't just mean marijuana. Our drug policy has succeeded in doing only one thing-creating the largest and most lucrative black market in the history of the world. The violence associated with it has killed hundreds of thousands of people, and many more have died as a result of disease and overdose from using dangerous products that are sold without even the most basic regulation we expect from aspirin. Instead of selling drugs from a regulated pharmacy, we are empowering criminals to sell drugs, and these criminals have no compunction about selling drugs to children, or murdering to protect their turf.
We have spent hundreds of billions of dollars, imprisoned millions, gotten countless people killed and ruined countless more lives.
And for all of this, we have not reduced drug use one whit.
Mr. President, end this war!
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