December 23, 2008 10:21AM 

# David Spade versus the Mexican Cartels 

By [David Rittgers](https://www.cato.org/people/david-rittgers) 

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News outlets are [reporting](http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081222/ap_en_tv/people_david_spade) that actor David Spade donated $100,000 to the Phoenix Police Department to purchase AR-15 rifles for patrol officers.

If the police officers in the Southwest are outgunned, it is likely because [former Mexican soldiers](http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,372202,00.html) have been recruited [by the drug cartels](http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-04-24-mexicocartels_N.htm). As the War on Drugs has ballooned north from Colombia to Mexico, military incursions on American soil are [becoming more common](http://www.judicialwatch.org/news/2007/oct/mexican-government-incursion-reports), Mexican soldiers are being [killed and beheaded](http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2008/12/22/20081222beheaded-soldiers1222-ON.html), and police officers [are](http://articles.latimes.com/2008/may/09/world/fg-mexico9) [being](http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-mexico28-2008jun28,0,2106502.story) [assassinated](http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-monterrey7-2008dec07,0,5447755.story) (warning: violent content).

This is one more way that the War on Drugs is nonsensical policy. For more on this topic, click [here](https://www.cato.org/2008/05/21/in-mexico-its-a-war/), [here](https://www.cato.org/2008/11/19/measuring-success-in-the-war-on-drugs-in-mexico/), or [here](https://www.cato.org/2008/12/03/mexicos-drug-violence-spreads-to-guatemala/).

##### Related Tags 

[Defense and Foreign Policy](https://www.cato.org/defense-foreign-policy), [Constitutional Law](https://www.cato.org/constitutional-law), [Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies](https://www.cato.org/robert-levy-center-constitutional-studies) 

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