patrick.net
An Antidote to Corporate Media
1,193,625 comments by 13,881 users - AmericanKulak, Blue, DhammaStep, Patrick online now
invite responseComments 1 - 9 of 9 Search these comments
Done!
2011 Apr 18, 2:26am
If it were legal would you still want to kill the users?
Or do you just want kill drug users because they break laws?
First you want to kill the Egyptian protesters, now you want to kill people that smoke pot or snort blow.
There is something seriously wrong with you.
TechGromit
2011 Apr 18, 3:02am
If it were legal would you still want to kill the users?
Or do you just want kill drug users because they break laws?
I want to either eliminate demand or eliminate the profits in drugs. Don't care what way accomplishes my goal.
TechGromit
2011 Apr 18, 3:06am
First you want to kill the Egyptian protesters, now you want to kill people that smoke pot or snort blow.
There is something seriously wrong with you.
Probably, but 30 years plus of a fruitless war on drugs has yielded little tangible results. It's time to look for alternatives. Continuing with status qou isn't making things any better. There's only two ways out of this I can see. Eliminate demand or Eliminate the profits, either method I believe fewer people will suffer in the long run.
The crime problem in Mexico is not all drug related. Also, if drugs were legal in the USA, the Mexican cartels would still fight each other. Drugs will never be legalized in Mexico. Kidnapping for hire, extortion, murder for hire have nothing do to with drugs. I have lived in Mexico and the people there want the government to make their country safe. They doubt the government is capable of accomplishing this.
Vicente
2011 Apr 18, 3:47am
Probably, but 30 years plus of a fruitless war on drugs has yielded little tangible results.
It did bring us:
So it's not all bad.
Done!
2011 Apr 18, 7:01am
Does that mean you would like to take on the United States Government the largest Poppy cartel in the world. Afghanistan doesn't have Oil, we're not over there for the scenic tours, you know?
RayAmerica
2011 Apr 20, 8:53am
I want to either eliminate demand or eliminate the profits in drugs. Don’t care what way accomplishes my goal.
I honestly think if the U.S. Government was really sincere in stopping the flow of illegal drugs into this country they could do it. Their operations on the border with Mexico in itself speaks volumes that they are not serious about dealing with the issue. I spent 13 weeks as an assistant Forman on my county's grand jury. During that entire time, we had a constant flow of undercover narc agents (never found out their names ... only their numbers) that testified about a number of "arrests." What was amazing to all of us was the incredible amount of repeat offenders that are funneled through the system and put right back on the streets. All of them had long rap sheets. In 13 weeks, we only had one "user," and that was a murder case. The guy got high on PCB's and murdered his own father. So much for victimless crimes when it comes to drug use.
TechGromit
2011 Apr 20, 10:34pm
... In 13 weeks, we only had one “user,†and that was a murder case. The guy got high on PCB’s and murdered his own father. So much for victimless crimes when it comes to drug use.
While there will certainly be cases like this like this where someone get high and does something violent, when you compare this to the consent turf wars between dealers where kids on the street get hit with stray bullets, I believe the overall results of legalize drugs would be positive. Amsterdam is a good example of a city with legalize (soft) drugs and crime a major problem, most crimes are of the pickpocket, petty crime variety.
Of Course I'm talking about an entirely different situation here. I'm advocating legalizing all drugs. I could very well turn out to be as bad as an idea as prohibition was, but I say lets give it a try. Cheap drugs would put the dealers out of business, our prisons wouldn't be filled with drug criminals, and chances are with a steady supply of cheap drugs users will self destruct much sooner than later. Sooner they remove themselves from society, the sooner life will be better for the rest of us.
I seen a news show on TV last night (20/20 or dateline, don't remember which) that highlighted all of the drug related violence in Mexico during the last few years and how the Mexican government was aggressively combating the drug cartels and corruption in the government. The solution to this problem is so simple, it can be solve with two words.
Legalize Drugs.
If drugs where perfectly legal and the price was set so low that organized crime couldn't make a profit from it, there would be no drug cartels. It really doesn't matter how many criminals you arrest, convict or kill, so long as there is money to be made someone will take the place of every criminal you remove. They are fighting a losing battle, the war with drugs will never be won so long as there is a demand.
My favorite solution is to lace drugs with a deathly chemicals and ship it out through the drug dealers distribution network. A government gag order on any news stories having to with drug deaths would make the public unaware that ten's of thousands of people are dying everyday from drugs, in a few weeks, no living drug customers, thus no demand. Problem solved... at least until a new generation of people discovers drugs and get addicted. This is a little too radical of a solution for most people however.
A better long term solution is just to legalize drugs. Making it illegal really isn't preventing anyone from obtaining drugs. People who want narcotics are going to get them one way or another. If it was simple as going to the drug store and picking up some over the counter narcotics to get there fix, there would be no street violence in our cities between gangs over drug turf, not to mention the Mexican problem. You could even tax drugs to pay for marketing campaigns that drugs are bad for you and kill, but if you want some, they would be legal and cheap. Would more people get addicted to drugs and die? Probably, weight this against all the people to die who have never even taken drugs, innocent bystanders of shootouts, police trying to enforce the laws, gangs intimidating citizen's to keep there mouths shut. let the people who make a clear and conscious choice to start taking drugs be the one's that suffer the consequences, not other people that did not choose that type of life.
#crime