One of the biggest drug states is Colombia. They are not our neighbor. Iraq is growing huge supplies of poppies and are involved deeply in drug trade. You over rate propinquity. Most drugs come from far away. As long as profit can be made, they will get in.The market is here.
It does not take much effort to find how much drugs are used in the US. We are number 1. But if you include over the counter drugs, prescription drugs, alcohol and weed, we are a drugged up society.
When did I ever say anything about producers being nearby? Read my comment again; I was talking of trafficking.
From the DEA
Cite on “Iraq is growing huge supplies of poppies”?
I don’t think so, but Afghanistan is.
I can’t really add anything meaningful to this debate other than to comment that I appreciate the links to the articles ya’ll have provided. I lived in El Paso for many years and now live in a different border city. I think the local media is somewhat afraid to provide too much information regarding what is going on across the border. Most of what I learn about the situation is on the internet. There have been several instances of journalists being killed for reporting the facts. There wasn’t much drug-related crime in El Paso, but where I live now there are kidnappings and drug-related murders starting to increase.
hellpaso Have you read: Down by the River - by Charles Bowden?
But they we be crippled. Currently they have an income that is comparable to the entire GDP of Mexico. If drugs were legalized in the US that disappears at a stroke, nothing they can do will change that.
But legalization is prerequisite to doing that, without it you are not eliminating anything, you are just creating a gap in the market for other cartels to fill. Additionally the key point is you are NOT legalizing the cartels activity. Illicit drug smuggling would be just as illegal as distilling moonshine is now, but, just like distilling moonshine on the repeal of prohibition, it changes overnight from a major criminal income source (and hence a major source of instability and violence in society) to a quaint back-woods misdemeanor.
I don’t get this. How bad does it have to get before the obvious solution is broached. Personally I just think its a matter of time.
Exactly, he’s not recognizing that people need the power to be the mercenary killers that they are. Deprive them of their money supply and they will be reduced in power.
Right. If you legalize it then the cartels who can make the transition to corporations will win out. This is more likely to be done in Colombia than Mexico where the cartels already are essentially corporations with shareholders.
From your lips to God’s ears.
I did when it first came out–thanks!
The Guardian (UK) ran an article on the Mexican drug war that I found illuminating.
The local paper, themonitor.com, is reporting today that three more heads were found in an ice chest just south of Juarez.
It’s a good book. I got it from my Mother in-Law who lives in Marfa.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/opium-iraqs-deadly-new-export-449962.html I think so.
Strictly speaking your cite speaks of a nascent poppy growing industry in Iraq and doesn’t tally with your statement that “Iraq is growing huge supplies of poppies and are involved deeply in drug trade”. The first line of your cite is:
“Farmers in southern Iraq have started to grow opium poppies in their fields for the first time, sparking fears that Iraq might become a serious drugs producer along the lines of Afghanistan”
The violence has already spilled over. I’m sometimes amazed at how the Mexican drug war has gone largely unnoticed by the majority of Americans. Most people just don’t realize how dangerous some parts of Mexico really are right now (or, should I say, have been for the past decade at least). Yes, the cartels are armed as well, if not better, than local and federal law enforcement agencies (hell, some of those guys are even ex-special ops guy that decided the pay was better on the other side).
The Crystal Meth trade dominates in New Mexico amongst Mexican gangs.
Is there any politician or political party or movement in Mexico that is seriously trying to do something about all this drug-war/narcostate stuff? I don’t recall it being an issue in the 2006 election, but I didn’t follow it that closely.
Well there is Calderon.