Opinion: A Veteran Law Enforcement Officer Says ‘Let’s Re-Think Decriminalizing Pot’ – Inside Sources

I have been listening to comments from President Joe Biden in the news regarding his plans to pardon those with Federal Simple Drug Possession charges, and Vice President Harris’ recent comment that “no one should go to jail for smoking weed.”

While they are focusing on these issues, many precious lives are being lost due to addiction and drug overdoses across America. But sadly, the only conversation we are hearing from the White House is a push to decriminalize marijuana.

One would think that the bigger concern to public health facing our nation currently would be last year’s body count of more than 108,000 persons due to opioid and fentanyl overdoses. That equals about one death every five minutes in America.

It is my understanding from federal enforcement agencies that heroin and fentanyl are being transported across our porous U.S.-Mexico border to distribute and supply to those with addiction. It is your basic “Supply and Demand” business model.

Fact: Mexican drug cartels control the northern border of Mexico into the United States. According to the DEA and U.S. Border Patrol, all drug and human smuggling operations into the U.S. from Mexico are controlled by those Cartels. Nothing goes through the Mexico-U.S. border without cartel approval.

Fact: During the Obama administration, I attended a law enforcement executive briefing held in Washington, D.C. During the question and answer period, I asked then-Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano why it was the U.S. Government had been so hesitant to declare the Mexican drug cartels a terrorist organization so that federal and military support could be utilized against their criminal activity at the border? Napolitano’s response? “Sheriff, we are not at war with Mexico.” That was not the answer I had expected.

Fact: Twelve years ago, I made my first trip to Arizona’s Mexican border region as a North Carolina sheriff on a fact-finding mission about drug trafficking through that area. In 2014, I made a subsequent trip to McAllen, Texas during that year’s “border surge.” After those trips, I started saying, “If we fail to secure our borders, every sheriff in America will be a ‘border sheriff.’” I have made additional trips to border areas in Texas and Arizona over the following years and have seen the problems of drug trafficking and human smuggling grow exponentially worse over time. It is now obvious that my prediction those years ago has come true… every sheriff in America is now a “border sheriff”.

Fact: I have had the opportunity to address Congress, along with former President Donald Trump and a number of his staffers, on multiple occasions about my experiences working in collaboration with sheriffs from along the U.S.-Mexico border region over the years. I have also served on the National Sheriffs” Association’s Border Security Committee for a number of years now.

Persons are being killed in staggering numbers by drug cartels. In Mexico, they use bullets and machetes. In the United States, they use illegal drugs such as heroin and fentanyl. Yet, this administration turns a blind eye.

If ISIS, or any other terrorist organization, was situated along one of our nation’s borders, I wonder what our current administration’s response might be. Would they consider using their federal and military resources? Or would they do nothing?

Can we fix the problem at the border? Yes.

First, this administration would have to acknowledge the problem. Then, changes in our current failing border security and immigration policies would be required. We would have to return to enforcing the rule of law. The appropriate funding for Border Patrol personnel and border security initiatives would need to be allocated. Border Patrol agents must be allowed to carry out their federal authorities under the law, instead of putting in place policies designed to restrict their enforcement.

We need a declaration from the U.S. government classifying Mexican drug cartels as what they are, a terrorist organization. Then, we can use federal resources to combat these threats to American and Mexican citizens. We need to secure the support of the Mexican government in interrupting and dismantling the Cartels’ drug and human trafficking trade. We can fix this.

Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, and California should not have to fight the cartels without any support from our federal government.

Border security is about national security, public safety, public health, and humanitarian concerns. Until these issues are addressed, people will continue to die in record numbers, as they have been.

As a Sheriff, I took an oath to uphold the United States Constitution and enforce the laws of North Carolina equally and fairly for all. I expect to be held accountable for the work I do, along with the men and women in my organization. I believe that America should hold our president and congressmen and congresswomen accountable for their actions (or lack thereof) as well.