President Barack Obama blames drugs, and America's demand for them, as the leading cause of the violence that threatens the balance of power in Mexico. Obama blamed American's demand for drugs during a speech to students at the Museo Nacional de Antropologia on Friday when he said, "Much of the root cause for violence that has been happening here in Mexico, for which so many Mexicans have suffered, is the demand for illegal drugs in the United States."

The President is visiting Mexico and Costa Rica on a three-day bilateral excursion starting Thursday and wrapping up today. It's his first visit to south of the border since winning a second term in November of 2012.

Obama continued to blame not just American's lust for drugs, but also America's role supplying the guns that lead to the violence between the drug cartels, in an effort to push new Mexican President, Enrique Peña Nieto's, progressive agenda on trade, energy development and regional prosperity between the bordering countries. But Obama didn't shy away from blaming the drug problem, he merely wants to change the way it's perceived.

Obama continues:

"Most of the guns used to commit violence here in Mexico come from the United States. I think many of you know that in America, our Constitution guarantees our individual right to bear arms. And as president, I swore an oath to uphold that right, and I always will... But at the same time, as I've said in the United States, I will continue to do everything in my power to pass common-sense reforms that keep guns out of the hands of criminals and dangerous people... That can save lives here in Mexico and back home in the United States. It's the right thing to do"

Lenny Breuer, a former Assistant Attorney General, corroborated Obama's statement by citing statistics gathered in 2011, which show that of the 94,000 weapons recovered from Mexican drug cartels in the previous five years, 64,000 could be traced to the U.S.