Designate Mexican drug cartels and associated groups as terrorist organizations.

38,000 lives, that is the toll of the drug war in Mexico. The violence in our southern neighbor presents a clear and present danger to American citizens. The Obama Administration should take steps to designate these groups as terrorist organizations in order to combat them more effectively. We should recognize the cartels for what they are, and use all of the means at our disposal to fight them. These tools should be the same as those we employ in Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, Somalia, and many other countries around the world. Be it unmanned drones or special operations forces, we must use every weapon we have to ensure the violence does not spread. We can also cut off their revenue through decriminalization of illegal drugs, taking away their sought after result: money.