During the tail end of 2012 evidence came to light that showed the United States government had partnered with the Sinaloa drug cartel. Investigations based on that evidence show that the partnership existed at least from 2000 to 2012:
An investigation by El Universal found that between the years 2000 and 2012, the U.S. government had an arrangement with Mexico’s Sinaloa drug cartel that allowed the organization to smuggle billions of dollars of drugs while Sinaloa provided information on rival cartels.
Sinaloa, led by Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, supplies 80% of the drugs entering the Chicago area and has a presence in cities across the U.S.
[…]
But the El Universal investigation is the first to publish court documents that include corroborating testimony from a DEA agent and a Justice Department official.
If the United States government wanted to take down the Mexican drug cartels you would think it would partner with several of the small ones, organize them into a force that can combat the Sinaloa cartel, and then play them against each other after toppling the biggest player. By partnering with the biggest cartel the United States effective empowered both the biggest player in the drug trade as well as the biggest threat to the Mexican government. That leads one to question whether the partnership was about hurting the drug trade or making a profitable arrangement that would also cause instability in Central America. Let’s not forget that this partnership also involved the United States providing arms to the Sinaloa cartel.
It amazes me that people still believe the United States government has any real interest in fighting the drug “problem”. All evidence is to the contrary. Even if it is interested in fighting the drug “problem” it is going about it in a manner that makes the “problem” much worse. Instead of having people who are addicted to various substances we have people who are addicted to various substances and a large number of dead bodies. I would argue that addicts and dead bodies is much worse than just addicts.