Mexico's drug war: Number of dead passes 30,000
The fight against drugs is exacting a heavy toll More than 30,000 people have died in drug-related violence in Mexico since President Felipe Calderon took office four years ago, the government says.
Almost 12,500 have been killed so far this year, a sharp increase on 2009.
Mexico's attorney-general said the number of deaths was "regrettable", but showed that the security forces were having success in their fight against the drugs gangs.
President Calderon has sent thousands of troops to battle the cartels.
The latest figures were announced by the attorney-general, Arturo Chavez.
He said 12,456 people had been registered killed in drug-related violence so far this year, compared to 9,600 in 2009, bringing the total to 30,196 since President Calderon took office in December 2006.
But he said the figures reflected the "desperation" of the cartels in the face of pressure from the security forces.
Mr Chavez said the government had seized record quantities of arms and drugs and captured or killed 10 of the 24 most wanted drug traffickers.
The Mexican government says many of the deaths are the result of fighting between rival gangs over territory and smuggling routes into the US.
Most of the killings are concentrated in certain regions, particularly the northern border states.
The border city of Ciudad Juarez alone has seen 3,000 killings so far this year, ten times more than in 2007.
Critics of Mr Calderon's policies say they have increased the level of violence without reducing the flow of cocaine and other drugs into the US.
Human rights groups have also raised concerns that using the military has exposed civilians to possible abuse.
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Commentary
The Drug war's pain is seen on 3 front:
1) Firstly it supports one of the largest prison populations in the world. America is addicted to throwing drug addicts into prison where they aren't properly treated and are thrown into and out of the system like a spinning top. That's not how a Just society should treat it's most vulnerable citizens.
2) Secondly the war on drugs causes pain at home with the gangland style fights that are so common in Los Angeles, leaving a trail of bodies of innocent women and children. The Bloods and the Crypts would have nowhere and nothing to fight over if they were defunded and weren't making record profits off illegal drugs.
3) Finally the pain is felt in Mexico where the cartels show the government who really calls the shots.
They lost 3 (9/11's) worth of citizens this year, more than 9,000 people total.
That's 10 (9/11's) worth if you count these last 4 years. Where is their war on terror? Where are their wars in Afghanistan and Iraq? Why are they neglecting these terrorist attacks on their homeland?
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On a philosophical and fundamental level, it is not my place to stop people from ingesting substances. I may suggest a better path or an alternative one, but it's not my place to stop them from walking down a dangerous road.
By trying to circumvent that axiom or universal construct, we have created a problem that disturbs the lives of millions of people.
A Just society aims to reduce death and violence, even if it cannot aim to reduce people from taking dangerous paths.
That's why we legalized Alcohol, a horrible substance that is just as deserving of a ban as any other drug is.
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