Between Tuesday and Wednesday last week, twenty-five people were killed in the long time conflict that has been blazing between Mexican Government officials and drug cartels; a conflict which is commonly known as the Mexican Drug War. The Mexican Drug War has been occurring for decades, but took its worst turning point in 2006, and it has been steadily heading down hill ever since. It started with Colombian cartels and traffickers having to use the land bridge that is Central America to transport cocaine, marijuana, and other controlled substances to the United States after officials in Southern Florida and the Caribbean tightened security. In order to get through Mexico, large Colombian Cartels, like the Sinaloa Cartel or the Gulf Cartel, made deals with Mexican traffickers to reach one of the best global markets: America. Along with the trafficking of drugs came the trafficking of weapons and human beings.

From December 2006 to now, nearly 20,000 lives have been lost in the names of cocaine and marijuana. That December, 62 were killed and since then, the numbers have been rapidly growing by hundreds each year. Last year alone saw over 7,000 dead. Over ninety percent of casualties from the Drug War are gang and cartel members between the ages of 18-25.

The worst areas for violence are the states of Chihuahua and Baja California, and the city of Ciudad Juarez, which, being located near the U.S.-Mexico border, are terribly close to home. The Drug War continues to escalate because of supposed governmental corruption in Mexico. Accusations started to be thrown about of bribes taken by police to protect traffickers and to smuggle them. Because of a couple of cases found to be true in Baja California, General Sergio Aponte, a key player in the campaign to stop trafficking, had more federal agents brought into play to quell the corruption of local police.

However, violence is rarely between cartels and the government, but most likely between rival cartels. There are several major cartels involved in the drug wars. They may act on their own or build alliances against each other, just as militaries of different nations would. The biggest cartels are the Sinaloa Cartel, the Juarez Cartel, the Tijuana Cartel, the Gulf Cartel, the Beltran Leyva Cartel, La Familia Michoacana, Los Zetas, and Los Negros. The alliances between these cartels have been and most likely always will be short lived and bitter ending.

The increased security in Mexico has the Colombian Cartels relocating to places like Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. With the increase of sales in our neighbor to the north, the amount of cocaine confiscated in the United States dropped by around forty percent. Other hot spots for relocating include Western African countries, which may open up a possibility of a European Market.

There are several ways possible to cut even more numbers on cocaine use in the United States. One suggested act is to legalize marijuana. An increase in a reasonably priced legal substitute for cocaine would logically cut down on the use and sale of crack-cocaine. Another suggestion from the Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy is to treat drug abuse as a national health problem, rather than as a national security issue. All we can do for sure is to hope that the Mexican and Colombian people can work together to end or at least decrease the intensity of the Mexican Drug War.