Would Legal Marijuana Reduce Gang Violence? (Chicago: live, law, gangs)

[Chicago South Sider]

Originally Posted by O.A.Bachlow

It sure would because todays pot has been engineered to be as powerful as heroine. Let the gang bangers sell and smoke as much as possible and they will stay in bed all day long....try it some time...have a couple of drinks and a few inhales of todays super pot....You become incapacitated. It is not the la la pot of the 70s...it is right up there with hard dope....The government really wants to corner the market on this stuff...because it generates tons of money and keeps young people stupid...just the way they like them to be.----controllable - docile.

That's hilarious.

[BRU67]

Originally Posted by chicago_r

I don't have a lot of facts on offer on this topic, but I think that pot legalization could put a significant dent in gang violence. Regardless, I'm a big fan of legalization from a personal liberty perspective. And a side benefit is that it would undoubtedly generate tax income and reduce spending on prisons and in the judiciary.

But back to gangs, the one downside of legalization is that cops have one less tool at their disposal to arrest clearly violent people who just so happen to not be causing mayhem at that moment.

If people say that the lottery is a tax on the stupid, it seems to me that marijuana possession laws are a tax on career criminals.

It would give them less product to sell but the underlying social problems would persist, and violence would continue with nary a lull. I'd wager most gang-related deaths are not calculated grabs for drug market share or territory but, rather, because of a "diss." Example - someone gets his a-- kicked at a party and returns with a gun and starts shooting up the place, or someone hits on someone's girl and he and his buddies go out for a little drive-by. Maybe NealIRC can chime in but that's my take on it.

A main trouble we have is that people, liberals in particular, assume that gang violence is rational - just normal people in a tough spot doing what they can to get money due to a too-low minimum wage and not enough gun control. This has, and will continue to, hamstring us from solving the problem.

[ARaider08]

I'll never forget This American Life's episode on Harper High School and what stuck out was a kids mention of the danger of walking home alone. Apparently, you just can't do that without becoming a target.

Chicago crime is more than a drug problem (at least in the way it affects kids).

Excerpt from that episode:


"When you ask kids or cops or school staff how it got like this, they'll tell you that at one point, this whole area was controlled pretty much by a single gang, The Gangster Disciples. But, and this is how most people tell this part of the story, Chicago police have been so effective locking up the big gang leaders that the hierarchy of those gangs has crumbled. And that's left a lot of room for newcomers.
Your gang might control nothing more than the block you live on. In Harper's attendance area alone, which is a couple square miles, there are more than 15 gangs, also known as cliques, sets, factions, or crews. Some don't have anyone in charge, but they do have guns. That's what every kid has told me. Otherwise, why would you call yourself a gang, they say.
Aaron Washington is a police officer assigned to Harper. He's there seven hours a day, seems to know every kid in the school. He says that for protection, for survival, kids walk to school with the kids in their clique, often through enemy territory. So I ask him, what if I'm a kid and I really don't want any part of this gang stuff? How can I avoid it?
Officer Washington

You can't. It's not going to happen.

Linda Lutton

He says it used to be possible to be neutral-- what they called a "neutron."

Officer Washington

There is no neutrons anymore. It used to be if you play sports, or you were academically better than the average kid, they didn't bother you. Now it's different. It doesn't matter. If you live here, you're part of them. You live on that block, or you live in that area, you're one of them. The way they get to school, they have to come to school with one of these factions, one of these gangs. They're going to come to school with them. They don't have a choice."


Legalizing marijuana doesn't solve It may have shortened gang leaders times in jail

[ARaider08]

Originally Posted by BRU67

A main trouble we have is that people, liberals in particular, assume that gang violence is rational - just normal people in a tough spot doing what they can to get money due to a too-low minimum wage and not enough gun control. This has, and will continue to, hamstring us from solving the problem.

So if this is the main crux, what's the explicit solution to the problem?

[ToriaT]

I think the only thing that will help is to point these young people to more useful endeavors such as school or jobs. I don't think pot is the critical thing that would reduce it.

[BRU67]

Originally Posted by ARaider08

So if this is the main crux, what's the explicit solution to the problem?

Recognize that there is a complete lack of social structure in the City's worst neighborhoods first, and stop blaming the past, second. Then, start to address it by revising the educational system in those areas, recognizing that you can't impose the same system you use in Naperville in such communities and expect any kind of results. This could include a 12 month school year and/or boarding schools, similar to what D.C. has been using (SEED schools).

[sargeant79]

It would make no difference whatsoever. The economic base of any gang is hard drug sales, not selling weed. Most of them buy large amounts of meth and heroin wholesale, cut it with all kinds of toxic stuff, and make a small fortune every day.

The only way you're going to make a dent in gang activity is by legalizing all drugs, not just marijuana.

[Old Town FFX]

Originally Posted by O.A.Bachlow

It sure would because todays pot has been engineered to be as powerful as heroine. Let the gang bangers sell and smoke as much as possible and they will stay in bed all day long....try it some time...have a couple of drinks and a few inhales of todays super pot....You become incapacitated. It is not the la la pot of the 70s...it is right up there with hard dope....The government really wants to corner the market on this stuff...because it generates tons of money and keeps young people stupid...just the way they like them to be.----controllable - docile.

Firstly, it's heroin, not a female hero, heroine.

Secondly, this post is just ridiculous, almost comical.

[flamadiddle]

It will likely be legal just about everywhere in the US in about 10 years. Many more states are voting to legalize this November and the DEA just got their azz handed to them by the Federal courts. No more MJ soup for you DEA!


https://www.yahoo.com/news/federal-c...079.html?nhp=1

[nana053]

Their are some solutions to the gang violence that are being worked on, but they are not on a large scale yet.

| Restore the Path. Rebuild the streets.

Fathers Families & Healthy Communities

One man's ministry of the streets in 2 documentaries - Chicago Tribune

CeaseFire Illinois | Cure Violence

5 struggling communities get help crafting own crime solutions | Chicago Sun-Times

We really need to listen to the people who are affected, not the politicians.