For more info:
The CIA as Organized Crime by Douglas Valentine (not about the mexican cartels specifically but about how they utilized the very same blueprint down to a t in Operation Phoenix in Vietnam and exported that model pretty much everywhere the US had its hands in)
US: Funds cartels which increases the illegal drug trade in their own country
Also US: Hands out ridiculously heavy sentences for simple possession and use of drugs
Also US: Uses the private prison system to profit off prisoners by essentially selling them as slave labour
Also US: Actively makes the lives of ex cons hell with little prospect for reintegration into society which only makes them more likely to turn back to crime and end up right back in a private prison
Pretty genius if you ask me /s
To quote System of A Down - "They're tryin' to build a prison for you and me to live in"