|
 dwpineal
Psychedelic Artist
Registered: 07/20/06
Posts: 4,462
|
 In the drug war, drugs are winning 
#12298285 - 03/30/10 12:49 PM (3 years, 1 month ago) |
|
|
http://www.ocregister.com/opinion/drug-241592-mexico-kill.html
In the drug war, drugs are winning
When someone next door is coping with trouble, the neighborly thing to do is help. Mexico has a growing problem with extreme violence. And many people in California have a good idea of how to help.
Mexico has been wracked by murders connected to the drug trade. Last year, it suffered more than 6,500 drug-related killings, triple the number in 2007. And 2010 looks worse.
As of mid-March, more than 2,000 people have died in drug-related homicides – which puts Mexico on pace for more than 10,000 such deaths this year. That's more than one every hour.
This is not an epidemic of crazed meth addicts slaughtering people at random. It's the byproduct of a war involving narcotics traffickers, who sometimes kill each other, sometimes kill police and soldiers, sometimes kill journalists who report their crimes and sometimes kill innocent bystanders.
So what can the Golden State offer in the way of assistance? Something potentially valuable. In November, Californians will vote on a ballot initiative that would make it legal not only to use marijuana but to grow and sell it.
You may think this would help only by allowing Mexicans to flee northward and escape their troubles in a stoner fog. But it would do more. Mexico is the biggest supplier of cannabis to the United States. Control of that market is one of the things that Mexican drug cartels are willing to kill for.
Legalizing weed in this country would be their worst nightmare. Why? Because it would offer Americans a legitimate supply of the stuff.
Criminal organizations would no longer be able to demand huge premiums to compensate for the major risks that go with forbidden commerce. If the referendum passes, some 39 million Californians will have access at lower prices, from regulated domestic producers.
So the drug cartels would see a large share of their profits go up in smoke. Those profits are what enables them to establish sophisticated smuggling operations, buy guns and airplanes, recruit foot soldiers and bribe government officials. Those profits are also what makes all those efforts – and the murderous violence the merchants employ – worth the trouble.
By now, it should be clear that using force to wipe out the drug trade is a task on the order of bailing out the Atlantic Ocean with a teaspoon. Law enforcement can interdict shipments and imprison dealers, but the success is invariably short-lived.
Each seized cargo is an opportunity for another seller to fill the gap. Each arrested trafficker is an invitation for a competitor to grab his business. The more vigorous and successful the law enforcement campaign, the higher the prices drug suppliers can command – and the more people will be enticed to enter the market. It's a self-defeating process.
All this would be academic if Americans (and Mexicans) would simply lose their taste for illicit drugs. But we might as well hope the Sahara Desert will run out of sand.
There has always been a demand for mind-altering substances, and there always will be. That's why, despite all the resources the U.S. government has expended on locking up sellers and their customers, drug use is higher today than it was two decades ago.
Prohibition is no match for the obstinacy and ingenuity of many human beings. Iran has a repressive theocratic regime that imposes severe penalties for using and selling drugs – including death by hanging. Yet it has one of the highest rates of addiction in the world.
President Obama's promise of change is inapplicable in this realm. The Bush administration provided hundreds of millions of dollars to help Mexico fight the drug war. The Obama administration intends to keep sending money, the only real difference being that it will go to the police instead of the military.
On a recent trip to Mexico City, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton acknowledged that Americans' demand for drugs helps sustain the Mexican merchants and resolved to address the problem. "We are looking at everything that can work," she said.
Well, almost everything. The most viable option is the one that is considered unthinkable. The head of Obama's Office of National Drug Control Policy has said that "legalization is not in the president's vocabulary, nor is it in mine."
No, but failure is.
|
Cognitive_Shift
@shroomery.org
Registered: 12/11/07
Posts: 22,878
Loc: Ohio 
|
Re: In the drug war, drugs are winning [Re: dwpineal]
#12298975 - 03/30/10 02:25 PM (3 years, 1 month ago) |
|
|
Quote:
dwpineal said:
As of mid-March, more than 2,000 people have died in drug-related homicides – which puts Mexico on pace for more than 10,000 such deaths this year. That's more than one every hour.
so many people killed over a failed policy. so sad
--------------------
L'enfer est plein de bonnes volontés et désirs
|
 Pumpkin Escobar
I'm Moodless
Registered: 01/07/10
Posts: 139
Loc: Tejas
Last seen: 3 years, 1 month
|
|
california is 90% chronic, its shwagg that comes from mexico when it comes to weed, the majority of whats coming in from mexico is coke, heroin, and guns. so this new law is not going to do shit for the violence i'm sorry to say. its good for california though, but wont have the slightest effect on mexico
--------------------
The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing but burn, burn, burn like fabulous roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes 'Awww!"
-Jack Kerouac
|
Hologram
BoxGobbler
Registered: 12/12/09
Posts: 16,793
Loc:
|
|
Dam if this passe im moving to cali
i love florida but dam
grow n smoke my own chron?
HELL YEA!!! 
--------------------
NEVER FORGET
seriously.
|
DrugsRGood
Philosopher
Registered: 07/10/09
Posts: 511
Loc: Canada 
Last seen: 4 months, 28 days
|
Re: In the drug war, drugs are winning [Re: Hologram]
#12299531 - 03/30/10 03:49 PM (3 years, 1 month ago) |
|
|
Most intelligent article I've read. 
|
Anhoktohen
iamthecheese
Registered: 05/30/09
Posts: 310
Last seen: 2 months, 24 days
|
Re: In the drug war, drugs are winning [Re: DrugsRGood]
#12300332 - 03/30/10 05:58 PM (3 years, 1 month ago) |
|
|
the second comment is pretty good too (OC Register website). nice article 
--------------------
"Less reality, more fantasy!"
~Hedonism bot, Futurama
|
Cap Stemson
Stranger
Registered: 03/30/09
Posts: 70
Last seen: 2 years, 1 month
|
Re: In the drug war, drugs are winning [Re: Anhoktohen]
#12300406 - 03/30/10 06:13 PM (3 years, 1 month ago) |
|
|
legalize the shit already. you can't take away a basic freedom just becuase a few idiots shot themselves in the foot.
|
psycroptic
circle of manias
Registered: 08/31/08
Posts: 138
Last seen: 2 years, 10 months
|
Re: In the drug war, drugs are winning [Re: Cap Stemson]
#12300865 - 03/30/10 07:24 PM (3 years, 1 month ago) |
|
|
Quote:
By now, it should be clear that using force to wipe out the drug trade is a task on the order of bailing out the Atlantic Ocean with a teaspoon.
that's not a bad metaphor at all.
--------------------
||== all posts fictional ==||
|
dill705
Amazed
Registered: 12/10/07
Posts: 3,779
Loc: The Cat's Cradle
Last seen: 6 months, 13 days
|
|
Guns don't come from Mexico. Guns come from America into Mexico.
--------------------
My advice is to find those things that give pleasure and do them often without too much attachment and relax and wait for the show to end.
-Icelander-
I like free markets and all. Truly I do, at least in general, but there needs to be some kind of oversight in recognition of sustainability. Life works the same way, on a bunch of sustainable systems. Why not honor what made us what we are and take some lessons? Nature FTW!
~dill705~
|
Pumpkin Escobar
I'm Moodless
Registered: 01/07/10
Posts: 139
Loc: Tejas
Last seen: 3 years, 1 month
|
Re: In the drug war, drugs are winning [Re: dill705]
#12311517 - 04/01/10 01:49 PM (3 years, 1 month ago) |
|
|
no guns come from europe and asia and come in through mexico alot of times. i'm talking about illegal weapons
--------------------
The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing but burn, burn, burn like fabulous roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes 'Awww!"
-Jack Kerouac
|
Annapurna1
liberal pussy
Registered: 05/21/02
Posts: 5,586
Loc: innsmouth..MA
|
|
drugs winning is simply an excuse to waste more resources on the drug war...the other side doesnt want to win the war.. they just want it to go on forever...call it job security...
|
maxrussek
candyflipper
Registered: 05/05/11
Posts: 22
Last seen: 1 year, 4 months
|
i agree, i beleive i have discovered religious evidence regarding positive psychedelic use *DELETED* [Re: dwpineal]
#15467294 - 12/05/11 01:04 AM (1 year, 5 months ago) |
|
|
Post deleted by koraksReason for deletion: Spam removed.
--------------------
+CandyFlipper+
|
withoutawire
Bunny Lover
Registered: 08/16/09
Posts: 10,922
Loc: San Francisco
Last seen: 10 hours, 49 minutes
|
Re: i agree, i beleive i have discovered religious evidence regarding positive psychedelic use [Re: maxrussek]
#15467308 - 12/05/11 01:06 AM (1 year, 5 months ago) |
|
|
You have a journal for a reason homie. People won't read that much without paragraphs and correct grammar.
--------------------
|
Hologram
BoxGobbler
Registered: 12/12/09
Posts: 16,793
Loc:
|
Re: i agree, i beleive i have discovered religious evidence regarding positive psychedelic use [Re: withoutawire]
#15467316 - 12/05/11 01:08 AM (1 year, 5 months ago) |
|
|
is it just me or does none of it make sense?
|
maxrussek
candyflipper
Registered: 05/05/11
Posts: 22
Last seen: 1 year, 4 months
|
Re: i agree, i beleive i have discovered religious evidence regarding positive psychedelic use [Re: withoutawire]
#15467331 - 12/05/11 01:11 AM (1 year, 5 months ago) |
|
|
hEYA EVERY1, HERES MY NEW FORMULA FOR LIFE REWRITTEN AND EDITED AND EASY TO READ, THROW AWAY THE OTHER MONSTER MANUSCRIPT, UPDTED DOSE HERE! LINK THIS... http://www.wix.com/maxrussek/modernpsychedelicresearch_ca
Wix.com/maxrussek/modernpsychedelicresearch_ca
Sex, Drugs & Positive Energy, A short trip into Psychedelia and the meaning of life, And A Practical Guide into Understanding Karma. Have you ever wondered about lifes puzzling questions about many of lifes questions? reading my five minute article will help you start recognising natural phychedelia and how shrooms can amplify this effect 
--------------------
+CandyFlipper+
Edited by maxrussek (12/05/11 09:06 AM)
|
luvdemshrooms
Two inch dick..but it spins!?
Registered: 11/29/01
Posts: 24,890
Loc: Lost In Space
|
Re: In the drug war, drugs are winning [Re: dill705]
#15467900 - 12/05/11 05:38 AM (1 year, 5 months ago) |
|
|
Quote:
dill705 said:
Guns don't come from Mexico. Guns come from America into Mexico.
Our government and your tax dollars, sent them there.
--------------------
“In politics, few talents are as richly rewarded as the ability to convince parasites that they are victims. Welfare states on both sides of the Atlantic have discovered that largesse to losers does not reduce their hostility to society, but only increases it. Far from producing gratitude, generosity is seen as an admission of guilt, and the reparations as inadequate compensation for injustices – leading to worsening behavior by the recipients.
Thomas Sowell
|
|
Images only 
Threaded
Previous
Index
Next
Edit 
Reply 
