That one way is drug legalization — that is, the end of the drug war by legalizing the possession, ingestion, and distribution of all drugs. There is no other way to eradicate Mexico's drug cartels.

Longtime readers of The Future of Freedom Foundation know that I have emphasized this point for a few decades. But it just bears repeating periodically, given that so many people, including, of course, the president of the United States, still believe that the drug cartels can be eradicated by "cracking down" in the drug war.

For example, this week the El Paso Times published a piece entitled "Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum Should Accept U.S. Assistance to Combat Cartels" by Diana Washington Valdez. In her article, Valdez calls on Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum to accept Trump's offer to employ U.S. military force against the cartels inside Mexico, an offer that Sheinbaum has refused to accept.

Valdez is an educated and experienced journalist. She earned her political science degree from the University of Texas at El Paso and has taught political science. She is an author. She has appeared on numerous television and radio programs to talk on matters relating to drugs, immigration, and border issues. She has received numerous awards for her investigative reporting. You can read her impressive biography here.

Yet, here she is — honestly believing that Mexican drug cartels can be eradicated through U.S. military force. With all due respect to fine woman, that is just plain inane.

No matter how viciously the Mexican government and the U.S. government crack down on the Mexican drug cartels, it won't make any difference. As soon as they arrest or kill one drug lord or destroy one drug cartel, those drug lords and drug cartels will immediately be replaced with new ones.

It's what's called the economic law of supply and demand. As the U.S. government cracks down with its decades-old drug war, the price of illegal drugs goes up. When the price goes up, so do the profits. As the crackdown ramps up, the profits soar, which attracts new people who wish to make a lot of money in a very short period of time. Meanwhile, demand for the drugs continues unabated because the American people, for whatever reason, want to continue ingesting mind-altering substances.