After months of discussion, including a prominent speech by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in March, a recent report by the US Government Accountability Office formally confirmed the symbiotic relationship between drugs and guns in perpetuating and escalating the current War on Drugs waged by both the American and Mexican governments. Americans are both demanding the drugs and supplying the guns that have made this crackdown so deadly.  More than 11 000 Mexicans have died as a direct result of the conflict since it escalated in 2006.

According to the report, on average 20 000 guns, roughly 87% of Mexico's supply, cross the border from the United States every year. Compare this volume with official channels: in Mexico, there is one location in the entire country at which you can legally purchase a weapon, and the paperwork to do so is extensive, as are the regulations that govern their use. A NPR reporter commented that it was "as if the only place in the United States to buy a gun was in a back office at the Pentagon." As a result of these controls, between seven and eight thousand guns were purchased legitimately last year.

Senator Eliot L. Engel, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, noted that "It is simply unacceptable that the United States not only consumes the majority of the drugs flowing from Mexico but also arms the very cartels that contribute to the daily violence that is devastating Mexico."

The report pointed primarily to a lack of coordination between the two federal agencies charged with border and small arms control, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), respectively, in stemming the flow of weapons across the US-Mexico border. Turf wars between agencies and the lack of an effective anti-arms-trafficking strategy were identified as key factors stymieing cooperation between the ATF and ICE.

Related:

• Analysis: (Brookings) The Violent Drug Market in Mexico and Lessons from Colombia
• Experts: Border Issues
• Past Event: Rethinking the Mexico-U.S. Border: Seeking Cooperative Solutions to Common Problems
• Read: (LA Times) Mexican police fleeing cartels find U.S. reluctant to grant asylum
• Watch: Narco Wars

(Image credit: Flickr user barjack)