Of Deck Chairs, the Titanic, and the New Drug Strategy

Today the Obama administration unveiled a new antidrug strategy for the Southwestern border, a region plagued by horrendous violence from Mexican drug cartels. Alas, the plan simply rearranges the proverbial deck chairs on the Titanic.

Lovely chairs they may be, but the boat's still going down.

The plan, as reported by the Associated Press based on an advance copy, includes lots of technological fixes like "visual shields near border-crossing points so that drug cartel spotters can't alert approaching motorists about inspections."

Yeah, that'll put the cartels out of business, just as sure as there's a Tooth Fairy.

As MPP director of government relations Aaron Houston said in a statement today, "The plan ignores the central problem, which is that our policy of marijuana prohibition has handed the Mexican cartels a massive market that keeps them rolling in cash, not just in Mexico, but according to the Department of Justice, in 230 American cities.

"Rather than trying to make America's 15 million monthly marijuana consumers go away, we need to gain control of this market by regulating marijuana like we do beer, wine and liquor," Houston continued. "Any anti-drug effort that leaves the marijuana trade in the hands of the cartels is nothing but a full-employment plan for professional drug warriors and cartel bosses alike, not a serious proposal to address the problem."