Will 100,000-plus drug overdose deaths finally help us make a dent in drug trafficking?

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador isn’t amused that President Biden is targeting the sons of former kingpin El Chapo Guzman and other transnational drug traffickers.

With apparent indignation, López Obrador correctly asserted that arresting anyone on Mexican territory is his authority, not that of any foreign entity.

The thing is that drug traffickers rein in Mexico with impunity, brutally killing hundreds of thousands over the last two decades and flooding the U.S. with all sorts of drugs.

In turn, the U.S. could care less about the brutal killings south of the border as long as the violence doen’t spill over to American soil, where consumers devour the drugs coming in.

But something terrible is happening here that’s forcing U.S. officials and ordinary Americans to finally care.

Biden signed orders targeting drug traffickers

More than 100,000 Americans died from drug overdose in the last 12 months leading up to April of this year. That’s a 28% uptick over the same period last year, according to the White House.

By comparison, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that nearly 841,000 people died from a drug overdose from 1999 to 2020.

That’s a staggering number of lives lost that can no longer be ignored.

And so, Biden this week signed two executive orders targeting drug traffickers and imposing sanctions on “foreign persons involved in the global illicit of drug trade.”

It targets criminal networks in Mexico, China and other countries to curb fentanyl and other synthetic drugs that are killing so many Americans.

It also seeks to arrest specific individuals, which in Mexico’s case, are quite a few – including the sons of “El Chapo” Guzmán involved in the Sinaloa Cartel since he’s now serving a life-prison sentence in the U.S.

“Transnational organized crime is a billion-dollar business that transcends geographical boundaries and threatens global stability,” the White House statement read.

“Every year, millions of lives are affected by transnational criminal organizations, including through drug overdose and use, violence, firearm deaths, and human trafficking and smuggling,’’ it reads.

Target the money, dismantle the networks

It’s too bad it had to take 100,000 deaths in America for the White House to take action against the horrible consequences of drug trafficking.

I have no illusion that Americans will actually care about all the drug-related deaths south of the border. Life there means nothing.

I’m hopeful, though, that Biden’s war on drug traffickers – by going after their money and assets – could make a dent in dismantling the networks.

That could help innocent folks caught in the crossfire anywhere and, of course, help to keep drugs from reaching Americans.

AMLO, as the Mexican president is known, can express all the righteous indignation he wants. But as far as I could tell, Biden didn’t suggest sending U.S. agents to snatch drug traffickers on Mexican soil.

Mexico has done little to nothing to curb drug trafficking to the U.S. – one of its biggest markets.

The Drug Enforcement Administration reportedly said this week that agents have seized an unprecedented amount of fentanyl and other drugs.

Officials said the agency seized more than 15,000 pounds of fentanyl this year alone – enough to to kill every American.

More must be done to counter addiction

That’s shocking to anyone who hasn’t been paying attention to the unfolding catastrophe over the past few years.

And no. This isn’t Biden’s fault. Drug trafficking has been rampant under presidents from both political parties.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that more than 75,000 of the 100,000-plus who died in the last year from a drug overdose involved opioids, mainly fentanyl.

Biden’s executive orders are necessary steps, but more needs to be done to keep drugs out of our country and to help with drug addiction.

Federal officials say most drugs are smuggled at ports of entry, so politicians – Republicans and Democrats – should be laser-focused on hiring more customs agents and target the online and other sophisticated tools traffickers use.

Instead, local and national politicians are busy snapping pics of themselves at the U.S.-Mexico border to get elected.

More than 100,000 drug overdose deaths must be taken seriously. Otherwise, the traffickers will keep winning and that’s just terrifying.

Elvia Díaz is an editorial columnist for The Republic and azcentral. Reach her at 602-444-8606 or elvia.diaz@arizonarepublic.com. Follow her on Twitter, @elviadiaz1.

Subscribe to get more opinions content.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Will 100,000 drug overdose deaths put a dent in drug trafficking?