This incident should serve as a wake-up call
Decades of the war on drugs, trillions spent, civil liberties shredded, and what do we have to show for it? A record-breaking 100,000+ overdose deaths per year, cartels stronger than ever, fentanyl flooding the streets, and—if you can believe it—the enforcers of this failed war overdosing on the very substances they’re tasked with eradicating.
That brings us to Sacramento County Sheriff’s Deputy Marvin Morales, who was found this week unconscious in his station’s bathroom after smoking what he thought was methamphetamine—drugs he had just confiscated. Turns out, it was fentanyl. After multiple doses of Narcan and a trip to the hospital, Morales survived, but his career in law enforcement didn’t. He resigned before the department could officially terminate him.
This incident should serve as a wake-up call: If the government can’t even keep its own officers from using (and overdosing on) drugs, how exactly do they plan to win this war? More cops? More prisons? More body-armored raids on Americans?
Nope. Trump has a much dumber idea: bomb the problem away.
Apparently, Trump took one look at the catastrophic failure of the War on Terror and said, Yes, I want that, but for Mexico.
In a move that should terrify anyone with an ounce of historical awareness, Trump has officially classified major Latin American drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, unlocking a whole new level of dystopian power for the U.S. military. That means the government now has the legal justification to drone-strike cartel targets, send in special operations units, and expand the already absurd surveillance apparatus under the guise of fighting a “terror” threat.
If this sounds familiar, it's because we've seen this playbook before. Just like the War on Terror was used to justify mass surveillance, indefinite detention, and the murder of innocent civilians overseas, the new militarized drug war will bring those same policies to Latin America—and eventually, to U.S. soil.
And let’s not forget how “precise” our intelligence is when it comes to drone warfare. The War on Terror resulted in thousands of dead civilians, including entire families obliterated because some CIA analyst misidentified a "target." But sure, let's trust them to start bombing cartel hotspots.
The Cartels Love the Drug War—Here’s How to Actually Beat Them
Trump’s approach is as predictable as it is ineffective. The reason cartels exist is because prohibition guarantees them a lucrative black market. The harder the state cracks down, the more profits cartels make, the more dangerous the drug supply becomes, and the more Americans die. It's a self-perpetuating cycle of death and destruction, with the government ensuring that only the most violent, well-funded criminals remain in business.
But what if, instead of repeating this failed experiment for the millionth time, we actually tried something different?
Legalization and free market regulation would destroy the cartels faster than any military campaign ever could. If Americans could buy clean, regulated substances from legal businesses, there would be zero incentive to support the cartel’s black market supply. Overnight, the financial foundation of the drug trade would crumble.
A competitive market would also drive out the most dangerous substances. Instead of mystery fentanyl-laced street drugs, people would have access to safe, accurately dosed alternatives. The overdose crisis is largely fueled by prohibition, which forces people into dangerous, unregulated markets where purity and dosage are unknown.
And then there’s the financial aspect. Right now, the government is dumping billions into military operations, law enforcement, and mass incarceration—all to fight a war they know they’ll never win. Imagine if that money was instead directed toward undoing the damage they've already caused:
- Funding addiction treatment and mental health services
- Ending civil asset forfeiture and police militarization
- Restoring communities destroyed by the prison-industrial complex
- Holding Big Pharma accountable for its role in the opioid epidemic
The reality is, the government isn’t interested in “winning” the drug war, because then they’d have no excuse to keep expanding their own power.
More Cops, More Militarization, More Death
The case of Deputy Morales should make one thing painfully clear: The government has lost control of the drug war. Their enforcers are now victims, the cartels are more powerful than ever, and the body count keeps rising.
And yet, instead of acknowledging the failure of prohibition, Trump and his cheerleaders want to double down with more violence, more war, and more authoritarianism. Because nothing says "small government" like sending in drones to bomb suspected fentanyl smugglers.
But hey, at least he banned CBDCs, right?
