Originally Posted by kane

There is a good book called The Last Narco that talks a lot about the hunt for El Chapo, but it also chronicles how the war on drugs has helped pull Mexico into the chaotic, violent place it is now.

At its core, the idea is that when all the poppy fields that existed in the hills and small towns throughout Mexico were destroyed, those people moved to the cities hoping to find a job and a way to survive. So many people flooded into the cities that there literally wasn't enough food, housing, or jobs for them all so it led to a massive increase in violence. At the same time, the legit businessmen that were in the drug trade left because they didn't want to be killed or sent to jail and it was taken over by criminals who weren't afraid to destroy their competition.