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The U.S. must instead prioritize domestic demand reduction and halt the flow of assault weapons over the border if it is to cease exporting both the motive and the means for violent drug trafficking to Mexico.

1 Yet an examination of the current Mexican and regional context leads to the conclusion that without a paradigm shift in design, the hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars earmarked for the Mérida Initiative and other anti-drug aid to Mexico will fuel a dysfunctional approach to public security-one that is characterized by widespread human rights violations within the framework of an ineffective war against criminals that has not reduced drug-related violence.

One could argue that the United States can avoid fueling human rights violations in Mexico by withholding funding from certain military or police units shown to be responsible for such abuses or by waiting to disburse assistance until Mexico has met certain human rights requirements.

In addition to these concerns, the consistently ineffective track record of frontal-combat approaches to reducing drug trafficking leave little doubt that supporting such an approach now will not end the drug trade, despite any short-term increases in the number of arrests or amount of drugs seized

In February 2009, the Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy, composed of leading political figures including former Presidents of Mexico, Colombia, and Brazil, issued its conclusions on this subject. It strongly criticized as ineffective the U.S.-led drug war paradigm of the past 30 years and called for a public health approach to drug policy centered on treatment and demand reduction.

A paradigm shift will be necessary to lessen violence in Mexico. The Obama administration's approach of collaboration and shared responsibility is a welcome departure from that of past administrations, but insufficient attention is given by it to the problem of US demand for drugs. The United States has five percent of the world's population, yet it has seventeen percent of the world's drug addicts. US drug policy should reflect these numbers. The US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) reported that the closure of methamphetamine labs in the United States has led to significant increases of methamphetamine production in Mexico. Rather than a decline in the quantity of methamphetamines, production has simple moved to a new location.40 Counterdrug programs must focus on and fund drug addiction eradication programs and anti-drug education with the zeal demonstrated by counternarcotics military operations in order to effectively reduce drug demand and drug violence. This approach would meet the criteria of lessening demand and reducing supply in the long run; by attacking drug demand, drug supply would be significantly affected over time