America’s drug problem

Since 2006 when Felipe Calderon became leader of Mexico, an estimated 40,000 people have been killed as a result of drug violence along the United States-Mexico border. 

In a recent bout of violence, a journalist was beheaded for the remarks she made on her weekly blog.

Another five men were beheaded in Veracruz. Their bodies were dumped in a car and set on fire, while their heads were placed in a wooden crate outside an elementary school. 

This served as a warning to a group of teachers who protested at 320 sites around Mexico in response to extortion by drug cartels targeting teachers and other education officials. 

Just over two weeks ago, a man and a woman were hanged from a bridge. The woman’s body was hogtied and disemboweled, while the man’s shoulder was severed so severely that his bone was visible. 

The problem has spread across the border into Texas and Arizona and is beginning to have nationwide effects. 

Drug trafficking began to take shape along the U.S.-Mexico border in the 1970s. 

Mexico initially controlled markets in the West and Midwest, and it is now a major player in many East Coast markets. 

Some estimate that Mexican cartels now have control over 270 shipping points across the U.S.

There has also been a recent shift in the way cartels are run. 

What used to be controlled by mafia-businessmen is now run by ruthless criminals who kill for the sake of killing and to instill fear in communities. 

The violence is not only escalating, but it is now spilling into border cities, including El Paso, where the trauma centers at local hospitals are overflowing with up to 150 drug-war victims at a time. 

Some even say that 18,000 drug cartel members are operating throughout Texas, not just along the border. 

What will it take for the U.S. to realize that this is our problem?

We have been fighting the War on Terror in the Middle East for a decade. While that cause appeared legitimate at one point, it is now losing its status. 

Many fear that it will take a 9-11-esque catastrophe to open our eyes to the terror that is happening in our own backyard.

It is easy to chastise Arizona for its recent immigration law, but regardless of the text of the law, one must recognize why Arizona arrived at the necessity for such a drastic piece of legislation. 

Their intentions are clear: there is a war occurring on their border and in their deserts that no one seems to care about. 

The wife of Joaquin “Chapo” Guzman, the leader of the Sinaloa cartel, gave birth to twins in a Los Angeles County hospital on Aug. 15, making the heirs to one of the largest and most powerful cartels American citizens.

Emma Coronel is an American citizen who caught Guzman’s attention during a beauty pageant. 

He expressed his attraction to her to the judges, and, as a result, she was crowned the winner of the pageant. She is wife No. 3 or 4. 

Guzman is a 54-year-old multi-billionaire with a $5 million bounty on his head. 

He controls the marijuana and cocaine distribution between Columbia and the U.S., which moves through the sea, land and air routes across Mexico. 

He surrounds himself with a band of well-trained ex-army men and moves to various isolated mountain locations in Mexico. 

Perhaps it is time for our government to turn its attention to domestic problems and use the same Special Forces that captured and killed Osama bin Laden to take out the warlords making millions off of America’s addiction to marijuana and cocaine.

Emily Stedman is a second year law student from Marietta, Ga. Follow her on Twitter at @EmilyLStedman.