Whack-a-mole: Shared Responsibility: U.S.-Mexico Policy Options for Confronting Organized Crime

This three hundred-plus page report, from the Mexico Institue of the Woodrow Wilson International Center, consists of a series of papers on various aspects of the Mexican drug war - a history of the cartels and their expansion throughout both the U.S. and Central America, and the history and evaluation of Mexican and U.S. attempts to address the illegal drug market and drug consumption. 


One paper, on U.S. domestic efforts to reduce drug usaged, concludes, "Nonetheless, there is little that the U.S. can do to reduce consumption over the next five years that will help Mexico. The evidence is that enforcement, prevention, or treatment programs cannot make a large difference in U.S. consumption in that time period." (our emphasis). It mentions that if the California Prop 19 passes, this could significantly reduce the illegal Mexican marijuana market. However, the paper does not go on to consider the possible outcomes of nation-wide legalization of marijuana or other drugs. 


One of the lead authors, David Shirk, Director of the Trans-Border Institute of the University of San Diego, in a forum chaired by Andrew Selee, Director of the Mexico Institute, just prior to President Calderon's visit to Washington last spring, stated the same conclusion regarding these current policies and then concluded that he did not think the option of legalization could be ignored any longer, as it is the only option left. In the press release to this report, Dr. Shirk only says that U.S. politicians need to "think outside of the box." 


Andrew Selee, Director of the Institute and an editor of the report, has shied away from discussing legalization, saying that the Center "doesn't advocate positions," (personal correspondence to this editor), even though here it is evaluating "policy options." 


Perhaps this reluctance to address the policy option of legalization is due to the fact that the Wilson Center, while saying it is "non-partisan," was created  by Congress in 1968, receives thirty percent of it funding from Congress and has the Secretaries of State, Education, and Health and Human Services on its Board of Trustees. 


We note that "shared responsibility" is also the theme of the speech made this week by the U.S. Ambassador to Mexico. 

Shared Responsibility: U.S.-Mexico Policy Options for Confronting Organized Crime "A joint research project between the Woodrow Wilson Center's Mexico Institute and the University of San Diego's Trans-Border Institute has concluded that binational efforts to stop organized crime and the exploding violence in Mexico have made positive advances but could fail to adequately address the challenge unless cooperation is significantly deepened and expanded.

'Leaders in the U.S. and Mexico have set the right tone by emphasizing greater cooperation in dealing with the scourge of organized crime, but cooperation has been slow to take root in the trenches. Efforts to disrupt the flow of firearms and money laundering in the U.S. and to reform Mexico's justice system are lagging way behind,' said Andrew Selee, Director of the Mexico Institute at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, D.C. and a co-editor of the report." Oct. 22, 2010