State & Local Executive Branches

Texas Homeland Security Director Steve McCraw issued a travel warning advising Texans that nobody should head to Mexico at this point. McCraw stressed the advisory due to the increased drug prohibition violence and threat from drug trafficking organizations.

Getting busted for having an ounce or less of marijuana in California is no longer that big a deal, or even a crime, under a new law signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Instead of facing a misdemeanor charge, people caught will a small amount of marijuana will now get, at most, a $100 fine. With everything else on his plate — a big budget deal, a landmark health insurance exchange — what might have motivated Schwarzenegger to decriminalize marijuana now?

Raul Benitez, a security expert at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, says that the spate of recent deaths may be no coincidence: It comes as the federal government is increasing intelligence capabilities and taking a harder look at collusion between traffickers and local police and authorities, as it looks to centralize the police force. Therefore, many mayors who once may have turned a blind eye to trafficking exploits in their towns might now be refusing to cooperate. “If the mayor is an obstacle, that is when the problem starts,” says Mr. Benitez.