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| Legalize drugs to stop violence |
| 2009-03-24 |
| Over the past two years, drug violence in Mexico has become a fixture of the daily news. Some of this violence pits drug cartels against one another; some involves confrontations between law enforcement and traffickers. Recent estimates suggest thousands have lost their lives in this "war on drugs." The U.S. and Mexican responses to this violence have been predictable: more troops and police, greater border controls and expanded enforcement of every kind. Escalation is the wrong response, however; drug prohibition is the cause of the violence. Prohibition creates violence because it drives the drug market underground. This means buyers and sellers cannot resolve their disputes with lawsuits, arbitration or advertising, so they resort to violence instead. |
| Posted by:GolfBravoUSMC |
| #25 flash91 has indeed been around here for quite some time. For the rest, I'm not qualified to judge, although I do hope things get better healthwise for Scooter McGruder, sooner rather than later. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2009-03-24 23:17 |
| #24 Legalization doesn't mean buy it at the gas station. There will still be prescription drugs and these drugs will be even more controlled under any likely plan. As for the awfulness of drugs, remember that Oxicodon is just as bad as heroin drug wise, but much less bad as a public health problem. Yes, drug addled people are addled, but ask Rush vs Jim Belushi which is legal and which is worse. All the horror stories that are being related here have happened WITH prohibition. Any likely legalization would end the money pump driving most street gangs, Mexican cartels and funding for the Taliban, how much worse can the world be without prohibition? Yes, some people in YOUR neighborhood would do dumb shit and die, but they are already doing that. Not only doesn't anyone care, those that survive are being put to prison instead of into treatment. Absolutely no one on this thread has provided ANY evidence that even one additional person would be harmed by controlled legalization, while on the other hand there is good evidence (read article) that legalization would reduce current violence and death throughout the nation and world. |
| Posted by: rammer 2009-03-24 23:08 |
| #23 Is your life so crappy that you need weed? Umm... yes. But that's another topic altogether. |
| Posted by: Scooter McGruder 2009-03-24 22:48 |
| #22 1) I don't use weed. I drink about 6 beers a year. Drug users are loosers. 2) I've been around rantburg a long time, like 8 or 9 years long. Look up condi in 08 and rantburg on google, I've been around a while. 3) a 12 year old does not have the rights of an adult. Parents treat their kids bad. Life sucks, get used to it. 4) my ex fiancee's mom was a big time drug user - I know all about stomach pumping and locked wards and drug court. Your drugs, your fears for children, your panic makes my life dangerous. I can't defend myself against druggies because of your gun laws, and I don't have jack in the way of rights because police can seize property without due process. I guess this is my first real rant on rantburg... |
| Posted by: flash91 2009-03-24 22:21 |
| #21 There is a solution to the drug problem, but it would involve punishment, which is apparently out of style these days. My solution takes about 3 generations to really work, but it IS effective. 1. If you produce drugs, you die. 2. If you smuggle drugs, you die. 3. If you sell drugs, you die. 4. If you use drugs, you die. I've never seen anyone's life be improved through the use of illegal drugs, though I've seen a few messed up or lost because of them. And for those of you who think legalization will settle all the trouble, I have one word for you on what that will turn into. Soma. |
| Posted by: Silentbrick 2009-03-24 20:35 |
| #20 Flash, I haven't seen your signature before, so I will reiterate some things I've posted here before: Many times, kids have come to my house for help when their parents are stoned out of their gourds. You want to preach your little "it's my life" garbage to the 12 year old whose seen his mom go to detox for the umpteenth time, while he has to take care of the baby? Yeah, you own your body. You can jump off a cliff if you want to. The people who have to pick up the pieces and put them in a basket afterward are the ones who suffer. The kids who don't have any food in the house because Mom and her boyfriends are stoned don't have a choice in the matter. It's their lives, and the stoners don't give a damn. I repeat: Is your life so crappy that you need weed? |
| Posted by: mom 2009-03-24 19:00 |
| #19 The biggest damned lie in the world:"It's my body and I'm only hurting myself." If you don't own your body, you own nothing. When people wise up to that, what do you think they do? Life is about risks/rewards. If they have family, and/or morals, they will be just fine. The alternate group will prey on society. Intelligent psychopaths in finance, carjackers at the bottom. Those preying on society will see rewards in selling drugs. Its a no win situation, the more you crank penalties, the higher the rewards. |
| Posted by: flash91 2009-03-24 18:53 |
| #18 Both of these drugs have been legal in the US in the past. There were problems, of course, but NOTHING like the problems we see today from prohibition. They were both criminalized long ago because of the problems they created long ago. If they are legalized now they will later be criminalized again after voters learn that the economists had their cost/benefit models wrong. |
| Posted by: DoDo 2009-03-24 18:27 |
| #17 If the government were to legalize two things would happen - FDA and taxes. These would add to the cost. Two of these are easy to manufacture - mari and meth. I could see how cigarette J's or a wink wink policy with mari plant in the house but it best be locked up as tight as a firearm and no misbehaving (order your pizza and play games or whatnot but you better not be in public and best not be distributing especially to minors). Meth is a hazmat deal and couldn't pass an FDA or EPA so it keeps going at price (moonshiners) or person switches to crk. Crk coca, made from outsource coca producers (vast coca fields with clean manufacturing in the US?) at tariff increase plus various fed state local taxes, is also easy to make. Wonder what would happen with theft/crime in neighborhoods where the price triples... Another thing which would just be super is to have a portion of the population hooked on addictive substances with violent tendencies that only the government can provide. There is a lot of illegal cards even in csino areas. People still moonshine. The violence is still there it is just not reported on the news. This might make a fun read at harvard and I'm sure his lawyer colleagues are all for it as well; prolly get the mortician and tombstone lobby on board as well, but outside the hallowed clouds of the university I don't see how this would work or help. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2009-03-24 17:47 |
| #16 Anyone that thinks Heroin and Coke should be legal has not thought this through at any level, or is a moron. Both of these drugs have been legal in the US in the past. There were problems, of course, but NOTHING like the problems we see today from prohibition. |
| Posted by: Iblis 2009-03-24 17:45 |
| #15 I spent time in my medical training working at a drug rehab unit. I do NOT want drugs legalized. This is the same kind of thinking that makes ER doctors oppose motorcycles. It's understandable, but misses the point. Those of us who ride know the difference. |
| Posted by: Iblis 2009-03-24 17:42 |
| #14 The biggest damned lie in the world:"It's my body and I'm only hurting myself." The people who care about you don't want to see you screw up your brains and your health. They also want time with you when you're on earth, and not out in the twilight zone somewhere. Is your life really so crappy that you need weed? |
| Posted by: mom 2009-03-24 17:40 |
| #13 And crystal meth. This war in Mexico did not go white hot 'til the US started tracking my drivers' license every time I buy a box of Sudafed. |
| Posted by: Seafarious 2009-03-24 17:19 |
| #12 Foolish retoric. Legalize pot? Well maybe, but the issue on the Mex border is not with pot. It is with Heroin and Coke. Anyone that thinks Heroin and Coke should be legal has not thought this through at any level, or is a moron. |
| Posted by: 49 Pan 2009-03-24 17:14 |
| #11 I smoke weed; it find it helps more than legal drugs do. I do it in the privacy of my own home, but wish I didn't have to participate in a black market. And you wanna take me out back and put a bullet in my head??? Nice. Addiction is an ugly thing, true. Alcoholism is one of the ugliest. But the vast majority of users are not addicts. Prohibition does nothing to help the problem. |
| Posted by: Scooter McGruder 2009-03-24 17:02 |
| #10 If you don't own your own body, what do you own? Yeah drug use is bad. Treating citizens like slaves is worse. |
| Posted by: flash91 2009-03-24 16:49 |
| #9 Shoot amerivcan drug users. No market for mexican drugs so violence in Mexico drops. Less votes for Obama. |
| Posted by: JFM 2009-03-24 16:15 |
| #8 Editor's note: Jeffrey A. Miron is senior lecturer in economics at Harvard University. I have extreme doubts about anything that a faculty member at Harvard proposes. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2009-03-24 15:51 |
| #7 I spent time in my medical training working at a drug rehab unit. I do NOT want drugs legalized. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2009-03-24 15:49 |
| #6 You wanna see something really scary? Watch a meth freak behind the wheel of a car on the freeway. It's the kids who don't know any better who will get addicted. They'll either be passed out in the hallways at their schools or else climbing the walls and bouncing off the ceiling. Then watch their families go through hell, if there are any families left. You won't be able to keep it out of their hands any more than you can keep them away from beer today. After a few years the Chicoms or the muzzies, one or the other, will walk right in and put us out of our misery. We'll be completely defenseless. |
| Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 2009-03-24 15:30 |
| #5 because prohibition worked so well to control the problems of alcohol and gangs in the streets. |
| Posted by: Gluting Fillmore6653 2009-03-24 14:39 |
| #4 Regulation and taxation of cocaine, heroin, and crystal meth? How much is going to be allowed to be sold? What do you do when your meth addict wants more? I put a kid through rehab and met a lot of people who will never recover their lives. The cost of legalization is much higher than you think. Note also that over 80,000 people die each year from alcohol related causes, including 16,000 from auto accidents. This is many more than the "thousands" noted in the article, and many are innocent bystanders (or drivers/passengers). |
| Posted by: DoDo 2009-03-24 14:19 |
| #3 A wall would definitely help... |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2009-03-24 14:19 |
| #2 Sorry guys, you must not have had to live and work with druggies. I can't agree. As with irresponsible use of alcohol, drug use kills. If you are lucky it just kills the family ties and organizational efficiency but if not it actually causes death. I was active enlisted Army in the mid to late '70s and I was not impressed. Officers may have had less forced contact with reality. |
| Posted by: tipover 2009-03-24 14:15 |
| #1 Common sense, of the uncommon kind. |
| Posted by: Scooter McGruder 2009-03-24 12:54 |