Mexico's Drug Museum

A new cruise ship destination perhaps?

Video and article at the LATimes

Reporting from Mexico City -- Army Capt. Claudio Montane wants one thing clear from the start: This place is not not a narco-museum. The point is not to glorify drug traffickers.

"Its purpose is to show Mexico and the world the efforts and the good results that we have achieved," Montane said, opening a tour of a military collection officially called the Museum of Drugs.

But spend a couple of hours examining the exhibits with Montane, in his crisp dress uniform and spit-shined shoes, and you wonder if a better name would be the Museum of Mexico's Long and Unwon War Against Drug Traffickers Who Keep Finding Clever New Ways to Feed the U.S. Habit.

The museum tells the story of a cat-and-mouse battle, with prehistoric roots. Mexico's peoples used peyote and hallucinogenic mushrooms for rituals. Later, Spanish sailors showed up with marijuana seeds and Chinese traders brought poppy to Mexico's Pacific region.

Subsequent exhibits depict the global campaign to stop illegal substances. In one telling map, arrows showing the routes of various illicit drugs converge on the United States.

Well, duh. Of course they do. We're the ones with the habit and the money.

Certain to impress is a gold-plated Colt .38 Super, studded with tiny red and green stones and engraved on the pistol grip with the date of Mexico's independence: Sept. 16, 1810. (Who says bloodthirsty gangsters can't be patriots?)

Another .38-caliber pistol, seized last year when authorities captured suspected drug lord Alfredo Beltran Leyva, is adorned with emeralds, an engraving of revolutionary leader Francisco "Pancho" Villa and a proverb: "I'd rather die on my feet than live on my knees." (Who says bloodthirsty gangsters can't be cliched?)

It's fine with me if these gangsters die on their feet. Or on their faces with their hands tied behind them.

The Mexican drug war is not a nice thing, but it's there. There oughta be a better, more peaceful way for the U.S. to deal with drugs, but at present there's not. As long as there are loads of untaxed cash money to be made, criminals will fill the demand and compete for exclusivity in satisfying the demand for illegal products.

Not to mention the loads of taxpayer money for American law enforcement and the ever-expanding prison industry. No matter which side of drugs you're on, there's money to be made on the backs of users.

The crux of the biscuit.