Should the President mobilize the U.S. military against Mexican Drug Cartels?

In January 2023 Reps. Dan Crenshaw (R., Texas) and Michael Waltz (R., Fla.)  proposed a joint resolution giving the president authority to use the U.S. military against drug cartels in Mexico. The bill was proposed in response to the recent spike in American drug overdose deaths. Opioid-involved overdose deaths rose from 21,089 in 2010 to 47,600 in 2017 and remained steady through 2019. This was followed by a significant increase in 2020 with 68,630 reported deaths and again in 2021 with 80,411 reported overdose deaths. A 2017 analysis, accounting for the costs of health…  care, criminal justice, lost productivity and social and family services, estimated that the total cost of America’s drug epidemic was more than $1 trillion annually, or 5% of gross domestic product. Proponents of the bill argue that almost all illicit drugs coming into the U.S. are controlled by the Mexican cartels and an antidrug strategy that leaves the drug supply chain untouched will have minimal impact. Opponents argue that a U.S. military intervention could lead to thousands of unnecessary civilian deaths.