Opinion: Republicans talk tough on border security, but they're bluffing about going after the drug cartels and seriously addressing overdoses at home.<\/p>\n
The Republicanwar against drug cartels is all a bluff and thats most unfortunate.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Butbluffing about waging an unconstitutional war at the southern border gets thepublics attention, which they needto win voters leading up to this years midterms.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Ducey is termed out and isnt running for anything yet.<\/p>\n
Still, Duceyis peddling the notion that America is under attack at the southern border and that drug cartels must be reined in.<\/p>\n
The GOP is using that strategy nationally to win governorships and local races, and to take the U.S. Congress back from Democrats.<\/p>\n
Republicans are good at staying on the border invasion message, which is to attack illegal immigration and blame the Democrats for it.<\/p>\n
But its all anillusion. They arent going after the cartels operating freely and violently in Mexico and distributing the drugs here.<\/p>\n
The Mexican people have paid a heavy price in that countrys war on drugs the body count surpassing more than 250,000.<\/p>\n
Americans remain oblivious to thedeadly war raging south ofthe border while our own people consumethe narcotics.<\/p>\n
The U.S. has never taken the demand side of things seriously, former Mexican President Felipe Caldern told The Wall Street Journal.<\/p>\n
Caldern unleashedthe Mexican war on cartels during his 2006-12 presidency that has left a trail of bodies.<\/p>\n
Its clear who won not just in Mexico but north of the borderwhere cartel distribution networks reach all corners of the U.S.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Caldern is right.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, not enough attention and resources are given to the demand side.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, the death toll is likely to rise in part because potent drugs like fentanyl are readily available in the U.S.<\/p>\n
The CDC defines fentanyl as a synthetic opioid, which is 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine.<\/p>\n
Theres no questionthat Mexican cartels are smuggling fentanyl to the U.S.<\/p>\n
But synthetics can now be manufactured almost anywhere, using easily obtainable chemicals, according to extensive reporting by The Wall Street Journal.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Ducey and other local leaders needto do more to curb drug trafficking and tackle the huge drug addiction problem.<\/p>\n
Governors like Duceycant arbitrarily declare war the Founding Fathers left that responsibility up to the federal government.<\/p>\n
Ducey is smart not to take Brnovichs opinion to declare war seriously.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
It really is too bad the Republicansholding office are just bluffing.<\/p>\n
A real and thoughtful war on drugs could help Mexicans desperate to end the cartel killings, and most importantly, curtail Americans demandfor drugs.<\/p>\n
Elvia Daz is an editorial columnistfor The Republic and azcentral.Reach her at 602-444-8606 orelvia.diaz@arizonarepublic.com<\/a>. Follow her on Twitter,@elviadiaz1.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Read the original here: <\/p>\n The Republican 'war' at the border is a bluff. They aren't about to take on the cartels - The Arizona Republic<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Opinion: Republicans talk tough on border security, but they're bluffing about going after the drug cartels and seriously addressing overdoses at home. Continue reading