The drug war devastation in Mexico is being directly linked to gun dealers in the United States. Those fun gun dealers are located in gun-friendly states like Virginia.
While drug addiction may be costing Mexicans their lives and Americans their families, we need to keep in mind that more than just drugs dealers are making money. Gun dealers are, too.
The Administration's proposal to search vehicles going into Mexico as well as coming from Mexico is a good one. Depriving the Mexican cartels of guns will take away much of its power and certainly reduce the harm to innocent bystanders. The drug wars themselves will not stop, just the form they take right now.
Aside from all that, if Americans stopped using drugs, there would be no drug war at all. Another idea is to decriminalize drug addiction and treat it instead. It's a good thought, especially since arresting people and putting them in prison hasn't worked since we started doing that in the 1950s. Treating addiction would do at least something towards addressing American demand for drugs. Not much, but at least something.
My idea is that everyone who is arrested for buying illegal drugs more than once has everything they own confiscated. Yes, that would unfairly burden the more affluent. But wouldn't that be a nice change for once?