Now that President Obama has exerted “executive privilege” — the president’s unique and quite imperial ability to avoid accountability to the public — the spotlight is shining even brighter on the lethally unsuccessful Fast and Furious “gun-walking” operation.

As a result of the ongoing investigation, the Department of Justice has shelved the imbecilic tactic of permitting known criminals to transfer weaponry to violent gangs, and Attorney General Eric Holder will, one way or another, soon be out of a job.

But amid the partisan-fueled scandal, too few are questioning the reason Mexican criminals find it profitable to murder so many people year after year. We know these thugs have an insatiable desire for powerful guns, but why?

The answer, as ever, is the official policy of the U.S. government to prohibit the legal trade of drugs from Mexico.

The War on Drugs is the reason Operation Fast and Furious was conceived. It’s also behind the deaths of 50,000 innocent Mexicans over the last five years, the deaths of 10,000 Americans each year, the imprisonment of 1 million Americans each year and the spending of $44 billion of taxpayer funds annually.

Mexican drug cartels create $39 billion in profits yearly through the trade of illicit substances such as marijuana. It is obvious prohibition does not make the drug lords’ costs of doing business high enough to dissuade them from engaging in this business. To the contrary, the policy itself permits the cartels to profit handsomely from many people’s deaths. By restricting the supply of drugs artificially, prohibition raises prices and pads criminal monopolists’ bottom lines.

In essence, $44 billion from U.S. taxpayers subsidizes $39 billion in profits for Mexican drug cartels.