Considering the current situation in Mexico, there are several courses of action, which would reduce the intense violence, decrease power of the cartels, increase jobs and revenue, and decrease the demand for drugs.
Firstly, increasing the legality of drugs will decrease their cost, by decreasing the risk involved.
If drug production becomes legal, then police will have no need to crack down, which means that producers will have no need to fight back.
Legality means that production can be taken over by licensed businesses, which in turn can hire employees. This could also translate to huge profits from tax.
Focusing efforts on health services rather than criminal issues has been successful in Australia and Portugal. This would also lead to fewer incarcerations for drug related offenses.
U.S. gun laws should be strengthened and enforced. Recent high-profile shooting, such as the Sandy Hook tragedy have helped changed societal views on gun control, but NRA lobbying and gun rights advocates remain strong. Even if no changes are made to U.S. laws, border enforcement has a duty to keep American guns out of cartel hands, otherwise, the U.S. should be implicated for the thousands of dead Mexican civilians.
Legalizing drugs in the United States would further lessen the problems of the drug war. Profits from the narco-industry in the U.S. are valued at 140 billion. Legalization means less judicial cases and incarcerations, lower transmission rates for intravenous users, less violent crime from organized groups, less corruption, and fewer people using drugs problematically.
While greater availability is associated with greater use, it is clear that the drug war, as it currently stands, is not working. Rather, it has fueled the development of the largest illicit commodity market and resulted in countless tragedies in Mexico.