Illegal recreational drugs (as opposed to pharmaceutical drugs) have been a growing problem over the past few years. There is a nexus between The United States and Mexico – and a few other countries, but mainly Mexico.
Mexico recently captured the drug kingpin Joaquin Guzman, to much fanfare. He is known as “El Chapo” or “shorty” because of his 5′ 6″ height. The Mexican government’s previous big catch was in 2003, when they arrested El Chapo’s Gulf Cartel rival, Osiel Cardenas. That allowed shorty to become the world’s most powerful drug trafficker.
Mexico equates their capture of “El Chapo” with America’s capture and killing of Osama bin Laden, but according to a new poll, a majority of Americans still believe Mexico is not trying hard enough to fight the illegal drug trade.
Last Friday Rasmussen Reports released the results of their latest poll, that found 65 percent of Americans believe the Mexican government has not been aggressive enough in its efforts to stop illegal drug traffickers in Mexico. This despite the number of police and prosecutors killed in the line of duty, trying to put the drug lords out of business.
Native Mexicans also think the Mexican government isn’t aggressive enough, either. Polling only showed a 12 percent favorable response to the capture, with 88 percent undecided.
Thirty-two percent blame US drug users for drug violence in Mexico, rather than Mexican drug dealers, but forty-nine percent blame the drug producers.
There have been recent moves to legalize marijuana in the United States, and 38 percent of those polled felt legalization would help reduce drug-related violence in Mexico.
One really surprising response from respondents regarded the use of the U.S. military to protect Americans if drug violence escalates along the border. Rasmussen says 64 percent of respondents are in favor of that, while 24 percent oppose it.
While illegal immigration is a big issue for US politicians, even though they try to downplay it, since 2009, Americans consider the drug problem more important than illegal immigration.
With midterm elections coming up in November this year, this information could be strategic for many candidates attempting to temporarily bury the volatile illegal immigration problem, as they try to pick up or hold Hispanic votes.
Colorado recently opened up sales of marijuana for recreational use.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaVMh4cUv0w
