They’re called “Super Drug Tunnels” and they are giving the US Homeland Security, DEA and the border patrol a lot of grief. There have been almost two hundred tunnels discovered under the border since 1990, some of which the construction is estimated between one and two million dollars. But, for every tunnel that is found and closed another one soon pops up to take its place. This is due mainly to the fact that there is a steady stream of buyers in the United States willing to pay top dollar for illegal narcotics. It’s no secret that with any market, if you have willing buyers, there will always be sellers willing to take the risk to provide.
“You can’t fight markets,” says David Shirk, associate professor of international relations and director of the Justice in Mexico project at the University of San Diego. “When a market reaches a certain size, you can’t fight it.”
The idea of using tunnels to smuggle contraband into the US is nothing new, it has been going on since the days of prohibition. But, these new tunnels have railway systems and are even air conditioned, giving rise to the acknowledgement that we will be seeing more of them as they progress in sophistication.
The following six minute video from Reason Magazine gives a good view of what is happening with the drug war on our border:
