system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: Why are drug cartels not treated the same way as terrorist organizations when they pose a larger threat to north and south America?
gpt
Because they are fundamentally different kinds of organizations.

Drug cartels are unlawful corporations. They are interested in making profit, and there will be them popping up because there is money to be made from these unlawful activities. You can fight them by attacking their way of making money. Anything else is rather useless on the long run because even if you take out current players, new ones will pop in their place.

Terrorist organizations are essentially unlawful charity organizations. They need money to operate, but they are not in the business to make money, but to make a change in the world. This usually means they are not long-term sustainable by themselves. This is because they did not arise from opportunity to make money, but from desire to change the world even if it costs them money.

This difference means terrorism is running on limited funds we can exhaust, and limited number of operatives we can kill. This means they're vulnerable in ways organized crime simply isn't. On the other hand, terrorists are dangerous in ways criminals aren't, as their motives aren't self-interest but rather selflessly destroying others.