[Look] at Phoenix, Arizona,’ Neill Franklin, a former undercover police officer in Maryland, told Raw Story recently. ‘That is the number two kidnapping capital in the world. A couple years back they were averaging one drug-related kidnapping every day. We do already have these [cartels] in the United States, but you just don’t hear about them very often. And when we do, it’s not the ‘undocumented workers’ as people are often led to believe, it’s the result of our drug policies.’

Suggesting Phoenix has the second most number of kidnappings out of any city in the world is not new: for instance, that very claim was immediately disputed after Sen. John McCain said it in 2010. However, a review of kidnapping statistics by a team of judges and criminologists earlier this year nearly doubled the official 2008 numbers, lending at least some credibility to the statement.

No matter what statistic it is that’s examined, be it the kidnapping ranking of Phoenix, shootings in El Paso, marijuana arrests in Brownsville or the number of new gang members in San Diego, the reality of today’s America is that drug violence has become a pervasive and pressing threat to most citizens.

‘We have got to fix […]