So who is responsible for thousands of drug-related murders in Mexico every year? Murders conducted be means such as torture? Murder victims that include innocent women and children?
We are.
And by "we" I do not mean drug users. Although I guess they are culpable, too. No. What I really mean by "we" is a society that continues to support draconian laws that prohibit drugs.
But don't take my word for it. Follow this link. And see what this guy has to say. No. He's not some sort of touchy-feely hippie in search of a cheaper, safer buzz.
No. He is the former chief of police of Seattle, Washington. A guy who spent a lot of his career in San Diego--on the front lines of the Drug War. He also happens to be a damn good writer. So check it out. Here's a sample:
Illegal drugs are expensive precisely because they are illegal. The products themselves are worthless weeds – cannabis (marijuana), poppies (heroin), coca (cocaine) – or dirt-cheap pharmaceuticals and “precursors,” used, for instance, in the manufacture of methamphetamine. Yet today, marijuana is worth as much as gold, heroin more than uranium, cocaine somewhere in between. It is the United States' prohibition of these drugs that has spawned an ever-expanding international industry of torture, murder and corruption. In other words, we are the source of Mexico's “drug problem.”
The remedy is as obvious as it is urgent: legalization.
Ouch.
sam,
guess what...i agree. the only problem is this...legalized lotteries were supposed to put bookies out of business...what happened is that the bookies started paying better odds...and they're still in business and thriving.
i've discussed this j. potts. you or i might be happy with a $200 bag of pot, but that crytal meth freak in the trailer court needs that long lasting buzz to get through his miserable life.
i'll play the devil's advocate here...which drugs get to be legal? which don't? who regulates the purity? and just exactly who gets to make and sell the legal drugs? and finally, since the PA state store system show no sign of disappearing, i guess i'd have to get my maui marijuana when i pick up that coppola merlot.
legalizing drugs is different than repealing the prohibition of alcohol. beer is beer. wine is wine. vodka is vodka...but heroin, lsd, ecstacy, crytal meth and crack are pretty potent substances.
legalization sounds easy. it might be the answer...but it won't be easy...because the gangs (black, latino, bikers, russian, organized crime) the control the drug trade are going to put up with losing that much easy income.
and honestly...unless the legalized channels really lower prices (yeah, i bet you're laughing too), the colombians, mexican, afghanis and others will just undersell them on the black market. or they'll start highjacking the legal stuff and selling it on the black market.
as i said, probably the right answer, but not an easy one.
Posted by: sean mcdaniel | August 07, 2006 at 03:47 PM