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The senseless violence is a direct result of America's "war on drugs", not it's drug consumption. It's the illegality that allows the cartels to sell their product, which then spurs on violence. Cut off their revenue stream and they will either move elsewhere or will go away. Humans have been partaking in intoxicants since the dawn of time, it's not going to stop anytime soon. Making it illegal is ridiculous given our long history of use, and that is what is causing the issue.
^^^Who funds the global war on drugs? The USA...some countries are beginning to wonder why they are to wage the war on pot if states are legalizing it. How much foreign aid does the USA hand out to countries on an annual basis to wage this folly? I don't have facts or a link at hand but, if you have ever paid attention to the topic the USA is usually joined at the hip with any foreign country with a drug war going on. We initiated it and it is a losing battle. We were never involved with Amsterdam and their open air drug environment though I bet a lot of Washington idiots thought we should be doing something about it. For what reason and to whose benefit?
How many Americans use heroin? I saw the number 1% tossed out. 1% is a lot of people. 1% of Americans are accused of holding/hoarding the majority of wealth in the nation. Are those very people also using heroin? If the USA has roughly 300M people the number of heroin users would be a staggering 30K. Heroin use is a darker side of life than taking prescription drugs and prescription drugs are more rampant.
How many know of someone who is a regular heroin user? You probably can't count the amount of people you interface with everyday who are on some prescription medication, legally or not. There are more pot smokers than any could ever count and you work with some everyday.
Legalize pot and watch that black market dwindle. There will still be an underground trade - who wants to deal with state/federal agencies when it's not needed? More people should grow at home as that will cut down on any "illegal" (sic) dealings. (Should it be any different than a roadside produce stand if made legal? I can brew my own beer.)
Everyone has good arguements: Who in politics currently is for the legalization of drugs on say congressional and senate levels? Who can we talk to that's for or against such policies? Does anyone follow politics enough to answer that here?
No one in the U.S. dares to do anything. No mayor, or governor, or federal official. They are afraid that if they came out and started bitching about the cartel they would kill them or their family or both.
The Chinese arent killing folks on American soil currently. They may be supplying some illegal drugs to us, but mostly they are into being our suppliers of choice. The Cartels are actually killing people here both directly and indirectly on a daily basis.
Last edited by WiseManOnceSaid; 04-13-2014 at 11:07 PM..
If we are just naming off organizations that scare the hell out of us, can I add the United States federal government to the list? Ha ha.
They enable the cartels so that they can profit, they murder people constantly in the middle east for profit, something tells me that when the American populace stops benefiting them, they will have no qualms about using violence on us.
Ok let me pose this question. If this was say, Iraq, and the military power in Iraq was committing human rights violations by way of rape and genocide, or if it were one of the many other African nations, would we send troops or not? Our history has told us that we have sent troops into zones of mass murder to protect citizen of nations other than our own.
Historically, it's very, very rare for the United States military to intervene in the domestic affairs of another country for humanitarian reasons. Human rights violations had nothing to do with why we invaded Iraq, and when upwards of a million people in Rwanda were murdered, we wanted nothing to do with it. Our participation in the humanitarian intervention in Somalia is about the only example I can think of off the top of my head, and the violence in Mexico doesn't even come close to the same magnitude as the carnage in Somalia. I don't see any historical precedent for intervening in Mexico.
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Originally Posted by WiseManOnceSaid
I honestly think that at this point, our administration is afraid of the cartels. I think they are afraid of stirring up a hornets nest.
I can't disagree with that. I think there are a lot of possible reasons that Obama doesn't want to touch the cartel problem, and that particular reason is one that I think you could make a pretty good argument for. Considering how clueless and hopelessly over their heads they are in just about everything else they blunder into, it's possible that they're just barely bright enough to realize that they're far too incompetent to touch this one. In which case I would give them credit for having a little more brains than they do backbone.
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Originally Posted by WiseManOnceSaid
But the only way this is ever going to stop at this point in my view is 1) take away their money by legalizing the drugs they import and 2) go to war with them with the full might of our Army.
As far as Point #1 is concerned, I don't see legalization as an option at all. This country is far too conservative, and any politician on a national level who came out in support of legalizing or even decriminalizing narcotics would be committing political suicide. I don't see any national political figure having the guts to take the lead on that issue.
I'm a liberal with a strong libertarian streak, and even I don't want to see hard drugs like heroin and cocaine decriminalized, much less legalized. That crap poisons the mind, the body, and the spirit of the individual, and widespread use of it destroys the fabric of a civilized society. We're never going to be able to eliminate it, but I'm vehemently opposed to just throwing in the towel and making it any easier to get than it already is. I think most Americans agree, and I think we're generations away from that wind changing direction.
As for your second point, I'd be 110% on board with that as long as the Mexican government agrees. I think there's a realistic chance that that day will come, and maybe not that many years down the road. But until that happens, we have no standing to go in there on our own.
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Originally Posted by WiseManOnceSaid
I would rather see our Army fighting for a real cause like genocide and rape, than a ideological cause like Muslim extremism.
This is a mission I would wholeheartedly support for our military.
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Originally Posted by WiseManOnceSaid
Thanks for your viewpoints!
And yours. You're a very civil and pleasant poster; I wish everyone here was as easy to get along with as you. Thanks for the discussion, you launched a good thread.
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