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Title: MEXICO - Vicente Fox has solution for drug cartels: "LEGALIZE DRUGS"
Source:
Bloomberg
URL Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010- ... on-as-way-to-end-violence.html
Published: Aug 10, 2010
Author: By Jonathan J. Levin and Jens Erik Gould
Post Date: 2010-08-10 11:26:55 by HAPPY2BME-4UM
Keywords: SB1070
Views: 1730
Comments: 100
Former Mexican President Vicente Fox said his country should legalize the production and sale of drugs in order to curb rising cartel-related violence. Legalizing narcotics would curtail funding to organized crime groups, who are using profits from the drug trade to consolidate power, Fox wrote yesterday on his personal website. “Radical prohibition strategies have never worked,” Fox said. “The cost of the fight against organized crime, and in particular narcotics trafficking, has been enormous in our country.” The drug war has killed 28,000 people in Mexico since late 2006, when President Felipe Calderon entered office vowing to take on the cartels, according to data from the government intelligence agency, known as CISEN. That’s keeping tourists away and limiting foreign direct investment, Fox said. Fox said in a July 28 interview with Bloomberg Television that the U.S. as well as Mexico were responsible for the violence. “What is happening is that this huge market of the United States in drug consumption, the largest in the world, is generating the weapons that are sold to Mexican cartels, and is generating the money that is laundered in the United States and brought to Mexico,” Fox said. Arms Trafficking More than 90 percent of weapons used in violent crimes in Mexico are brought in illegally from the U.S., according to the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives. President Barack Obama vowed during a visit to Mexico last year that the U.S. would take more aggressive steps to help the country battle drug cartels by urging the Senate to ratify a decade-old treaty on arms trafficking in Latin America. Calderon, a member of Fox’s National Action Party, said last week that he was open to debate on the legalization issue, even as he said he was personally opposed to the idea because it represented a health risk to society. Legalization measures have worked in other countries, which use new taxes on the products to finance addiction recovery programs, Fox said. In 2009, Mexico decriminalized possession of small amounts of drugs including marijuana, cocaine and heroin.
Mexico Ex-President Fox Calls for Drug Legalization
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Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 96.
#31. To: HAPPY2BME-4UM (#0)
I'm with Fox on this one.
I'm surrounded
Happy, don't give up yet. From my first hand experience with addicts, methadone clinics and hopeless drunks, if someone could round them all up, dig a giant hole and bury them, I'll buy into that.
======================================== I have never and will never give up on MYSELF. If you have ever helped an addict or drunk, then GOD BLESS YOU for doing it! Every one of them I've ever met wished to god they had never seen a joint, needle, or snort line. I know I'm right. Still surrounded though
======================================== I have never and will never give up on MYSELF. If you have ever helped an addict or drunk, then GOD BLESS YOU for doing it! Every one of them I've ever met wished to god they had never seen a joint, needle, or snort line. I know I'm right. Still surrounded though I agree with and applaud your humanity. I do not however, agree with your solution of continuing to enable violent drug cartels. And that is basically what you are doing in supporting the "War on some drugs". Anti-Depressants, and you can check this out in the "Physicians Desk Reference", such as Prozac, Effexor, and Paxil have more, and more severe, side effects than Heroin, and they are legal. While I don't reccomend any of them the reality is that the unstaunched flow of drugs, and dirty money, could not exist without government collaboration and connivance. What the "War on Drugs" is, in reality, is a war on the "unapproved" drug gangs. If you would take the time to inform yourself about reality instead allowing your emotional revulsion at the horrors of drug addiction blind you, you might begin to understand that the most humane and effective solution to drug addiction is not criminalize but treat.
============================================= I am utterly amazed at the logic the "Legalize Marijuana" advocacy group uses, and even more amazed at the ignorant people who buy into it. Make it legal and the problem will go away. You AT LEAST recognized there "might be" a line drawn for WHICH opiates and hallucinogenics should/could be legalized. America might just as well be stoned out of it's gourd when China and the Mexicans march onto the White House lawn anyway.
============================================= I am utterly amazed at the logic the "Legalize Marijuana" advocacy group uses, and even more amazed at the ignorant people who buy into it. Make it legal and the problem will go away. You AT LEAST recognized there "might be" a line drawn for WHICH opiates and hallucinogenics should/could be legalized. America might just as well be stoned out of it's gourd when China and the Mexicans march onto the White House lawn anyway. And like many who are enamored of prohibition as the "only" solution you twist the position of the contrary view. Did I say drug addiction would somehow magically go away? Did I say that current abusers would somehow instantly see the light or that legalization was some sort of panacea? No to all. I did not maintain any of those positions and do not. There are really two main lines of reasoning against the "War on Some Drugs" the pragmatic and the ethical. Pragmatically we can see from experience that prohibition creates crime, and very violent crime at that. The lesson of the "Roaring Twenties" should have stood as a lesson for the ages. Yet we are now embarked upon a similar escapade enacted under same false rationale, and the current Drug Lords make Al Capone look like a Pussy Cat. The best old Al could come up with was the St. Valentine's Day Massacre. Rather "retail" compared to the wholesale slaughter now ongoing around our southern border. The false rationale is that Prohibition works and that it is a good thing to create Drug Lords and criminal combines fueled by the dirty money of a filthy trade. You are just as capable as I at looking up and studying the realities, but stated simply the drug trade as it now exists is supported by corrupt government which the individual leeches upon the body politic find sustenance from. The ethical argument is similarly espoused. Upon what basis do the alleged opponents of the "War on some Drugs" support their cause? Ultimately it is a rationale that they have granted themselves the right to dictate behavior, and limit the freedoms, of others. On the surface it is covered over with soothing platitudes such as "we're doing it for their own good and they'll thank us later". Yes, locking up some poor wretch for a term of years for being weak enough to try escaping into drugs will do wonders for their outlook and prospects in life. "We had to destroy the village to save it." In the final analysis the "War on some Drugs" is founded and built upon a house of cards. It's rationales are irrational, its toll in human misery extreme, and even worse after all of the hell it creates it doesn't work. Why you might ask? Because jail is not the cure for problems of the soul, and incarcerating someone for seeking solace from a harsh life in the wrong place does nothing to solve the underlying problem. Drug use is merely a symptom of a greater spiritual malaise, and you don't treat problems of the soul with guns, bullets, beatings, or incarceration. Over, and over, and over again that solution has been used and it ALWAYS fails. It may drive a trade deeper underground, and it may limit the field to only the most violent of criminals, but always it fails, and always the toll exacted upon those whom the prohibitionists claim to wish to help is heavier than had they acted not at all. Frankly I do not see how a caring and compassionate person could support the "War on some drugs". All they are doing is creating a misery worse than was there before their actions.
That was an excellent post.
One side note here since I was involved in this cluster F...it was never a *war* on drugs. Iran has a WOD, China has a WOD, Saudi Arabia has a WOD...you get the point. In those countries dealers, smugglers, etc are dispatched forthwith and the family of the deceased sent the bill for the bullet. If Americans truly fought a WOD it wouldn't look anything like this absurd mess we have.
One side note here since I was involved in this cluster F...it was never a *war* on drugs. Iran has a WOD, China has a WOD, Saudi Arabia has a WOD...you get the point. In those countries dealers, smugglers, etc are dispatched forthwith and the family of the deceased sent the bill for the bullet. If Americans truly fought a WOD it wouldn't look anything like this absurd mess we have. Which creates a great incentive to not be taken alive, and to kill anyone and every one that poses a threat.
You're describing a war. Again, America has never fought a WOD. If we did, drug importation & ingestion would be all but eliminated in less than 6-months. Would you rather be a drug dealer in the Chicago or Ankara?
Actually, if the WOD worked in China, they wouldn't still have one. Fact is, if you were a prisoner, you could get drugs in a high security prison (and many do, as well as receiving weapons and prostitutes on occasion). Until we get to the point of "comitment" to ensure that we all live in a high security prison environment, we can't even begin to talk about "solving the drug problem". And that would be a starting point, because as mentioned, you can get drugs in high security prison. The only people who could be trusted to guard such a prison would literally have to be angels and arch-angels, beings totally without sin and corruption who could never, ever be swayed to wrong doing. Otherwise, the problem exists and persists and the prison constructed around us all is little more than window dressing. End of the day, humans are not angles, and can never be.
Wise man say, once won, remain ever vigilant.
#98. To: Original_Intent (#96)
(Edited)
:P It's lively debate and could become even better if we can agree on some basic definitions.
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#34. To: Jethro Tull (#31)
#43. To: HAPPY2BME-4UM (#34)
#47. To: Jethro Tull (#43)
Happy, don't give up yet. From my first hand experience with addicts, methadone clinics and hopeless drunks, if someone could round them all up, dig a giant hole and bury them, I'll buy into that.
#51. To: HAPPY2BME-4UM, christine, Dakmar, Jethro Tull (#47)
Happy, don't give up yet. From my first hand experience with addicts, methadone clinics and hopeless drunks, if someone could round them all up, dig a giant hole and bury them, I'll buy into that.
#58. To: Original_Intent (#51)
If you would take the time to inform yourself about reality instead allowing your emotional revulsion at the horrors of drug addiction blind you, you might begin to understand that the most humane and effective solution to drug addiction is not criminalize but treat.
#85. To: HAPPY2BME-4UM, Artisan, wudidiz, christine, Jethro Tull, all (#58)
If you would take the time to inform yourself about reality instead allowing your emotional revulsion at the horrors of drug addiction blind you, you might begin to understand that the most humane and effective solution to drug addiction is not criminalize but treat.
#87. To: Original_Intent (#85)
In the final analysis the "War on some Drugs" is founded and built upon a house of cards. It's rationales are irrational, its toll in human misery extreme, and even worse after all of the hell it creates it doesn't work. Why you might ask? Because jail is not the cure for problems of the soul, and incarcerating someone for seeking solace from a harsh life in the wrong place does nothing to solve the underlying problem. Drug use is merely a symptom of a greater spiritual malaise, and you don't treat problems of the soul with guns, bullets, beatings, or incarceration. Over, and over, and over again that solution has been used and it ALWAYS fails. It may drive a trade deeper underground, and it may limit the field to only the most violent of criminals, but always it fails, and always the toll exacted upon those whom the prohibitionists claim to wish to help is heavier than had they acted not at all. Frankly I do not see how a caring and compassionate person could support the "War on some drugs". All they are doing is creating a misery worse than was there before their actions.
#89. To: All (#87)
(Edited)
In the final analysis the "War on some Drugs" is founded and built upon a house of cards
#91. To: Jethro Tull (#89)
In the final analysis the "War on some Drugs" is founded and built upon a house of cards
#92. To: Original_Intent (#91)
Which creates a great incentive to not be taken alive, and to kill anyone and every one that poses a threat.
#93. To: Jethro Tull (#92)
You're describing a war. Again, America has never fought a WOD. If we did, drug importation & ingestion would be all but eliminated in less than 6-months. Would you rather be a drug dealer in the Chicago or Ankara?
#94. To: SonOfLiberty (#93)
Actually, if the WOD worked in China, they wouldn't still have one.
#96. To: Jethro Tull, SonOfLiberty, all (#94)
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