The Republican ‘war’ at the border is a bluff. They aren’t about to take on the cartels – The Arizona Republic

Opinion: Republicans talk tough on border security, but they're bluffing about going after the drug cartels and seriously addressing overdoses at home.

The Republicanwar against drug cartels is all a bluff and thats most unfortunate.

For all their tough talk, they dont really mean to crack down on transnational cartels that are blanketing the U.S. market with fentanyl and all sorts of other deadly drugs.

If they were serious about going after the cartels, they would have done so already atthe U.S.-Mexico border, and most importantly, in the heartland where traffickers are easily distributing drugs that killed more than 100,000 people just last year.

Butbluffing about waging an unconstitutional war at the southern border gets thepublics attention, which they needto win voters leading up to this years midterms.

Case in point. Arizona Republican Attorney General Mark Brnovich this week issued a legal opinion effectively saying that Republican Gov. Doug Ducey can send troops to the border.

That argument is highly disputed by constitutional lawyers. But thats inconsequential for Brnovich who doesnt mind making a fool of himself in his quest to become a U.S. senator.

Ducey is termed out and isnt running for anything yet.

Still, Duceyis peddling the notion that America is under attack at the southern border and that drug cartels must be reined in.

The GOP is using that strategy nationally to win governorships and local races, and to take the U.S. Congress back from Democrats.

Republicans are good at staying on the border invasion message, which is to attack illegal immigration and blame the Democrats for it.

But its all anillusion. They arent going after the cartels operating freely and violently in Mexico and distributing the drugs here.

The Mexican people have paid a heavy price in that countrys war on drugs the body count surpassing more than 250,000.

Americans remain oblivious to thedeadly war raging south ofthe border while our own people consumethe narcotics.

The U.S. has never taken the demand side of things seriously, former Mexican President Felipe Caldern told The Wall Street Journal.

Caldern unleashedthe Mexican war on cartels during his 2006-12 presidency that has left a trail of bodies.

Its clear who won not just in Mexico but north of the borderwhere cartel distribution networks reach all corners of the U.S.

Americans, gullible enough to believe politicians, are eating up the border invasion rhetoric while people are dying of overdoses courtesy of the cartelsoperating on Americas streets.

Caldern is right.

Americasdrug war, which President Richard Nixon started in 1971, has failed because it has primarily focused on the countries supplying the drugs, including Mexico, Colombia, China and Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, not enough attention and resources are given to the demand side.

And now more than 100,000 people have lost their lives, mostly due to fentanyl. Drug overdoses increased by 28% from last year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Unfortunately, the death toll is likely to rise in part because potent drugs like fentanyl are readily available in the U.S.

The CDC defines fentanyl as a synthetic opioid, which is 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine.

Theres no questionthat Mexican cartels are smuggling fentanyl to the U.S.

But synthetics can now be manufactured almost anywhere, using easily obtainable chemicals, according to extensive reporting by The Wall Street Journal.

That deserves serious attention not just sending a handful of National Guardsmen to the border to support law enforcement or setting up a mostly ineffective Border Strike Force.

Ducey and other local leaders needto do more to curb drug trafficking and tackle the huge drug addiction problem.

Governors like Duceycant arbitrarily declare war the Founding Fathers left that responsibility up to the federal government.

Ducey is smart not to take Brnovichs opinion to declare war seriously.

But its also too bad that he and others are distracting voterswith a border invasion of mainly poor and desperate asylum seekers instead of joining forces with Democrats to fight the cartels.

It really is too bad the Republicansholding office are just bluffing.

A real and thoughtful war on drugs could help Mexicans desperate to end the cartel killings, and most importantly, curtail Americans demandfor drugs.

Elvia Daz is an editorial columnistfor The Republic and azcentral.Reach her at 602-444-8606 orelvia.diaz@arizonarepublic.com. Follow her on Twitter,@elviadiaz1.

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The Republican 'war' at the border is a bluff. They aren't about to take on the cartels - The Arizona Republic