[wjn0]

Is anyone else extremely bothered by the false equivalence of narcotics trafficking and the need for homeland security?

This blurring of the lines between a multi-billion dollar _business_ (probably around 1% of the world's GDP) that in fact relies on the success of the state, and purported threats to the state itself strikes me as extremely dangerous.

I'm contrasting this to American intelligence involvement in central America in the 1980s. During that time, the same organizations involved in cocaine trafficking and production were also extremely political, and crucial to the CIA carrying out their (in my opinion neoimperialist) "responsibilities" in the region.

My point is: I am aware of absolutely no evidence that modern drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) operating within the borders of the US are political whatsoever, so can we really view them as a threat to homeland security? Is there evidence that there is some risk of groups which pose a threat to our security have infiltrated these DTOs, or are piggybacking off their operations somehow?

[wool_gather]

There seems to be a certain amount of violence that comes with the territory of illegal drug trafficking; that might not be national security per se, but it's certainly something within the government's purview. It's also not that much of a stretch to say that a public health crisis of drug addiction would be a kind of threat to national security. Of course, if that were the real thing, DHS should be going after the opioid peddlers, so...

[wjn0]

Well of course it's within the government's purview, but we have to draw a line between law enforcement and military-run surveillance somewhere, and it seems to me drug enforcement (violent or not) falls staunchly within the former's purview. The blurring of that line or its movement altogether strikes me as dangerous (cf. the mosaic theory of the 4th amendment [1]).

[1] https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2032821