U.S. Agrees To Drug Legalization Talks

Friends of Ours ^ | 3/3/12 | Friends of Ours

[AtlasStalled]

The United States may be ready to capitulate in the drug wars.

This week Vice President Joe Biden heads south of the border to meet with Mexican President Felipe Calderon and a number of presidents from Central American countries including Costa Rica and Guatemala who "have said in recent weeks they'd like to open up the discussion of legalizing drugs" as reported by Martha Mendoza for The Associated Press.

Last week at a conference on transnational crime a security official for the Organization of American States warned that the drug cartels "are posing a growing threat to democracy in Latin America" as reported by BBC News: "cartels are influencing elections by threatening politicians and even running their own candidates, OAS Secretary for Multidimensional Security Adam Blackwell said."

Allegations of ties between Mexican politicians and narco traffickers have become routine, and U.S. officials say "that even the most dedicated public servants can't avoid the taint of drug cartels in some areas of the country where mobsters are the de facto overlords" as reported by Tim Johnson for McClatchy Newspapers.

Meanwhile, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton finally is recognizing "intelligence reports that Latin American drug cartels are closely linked with Hezbollah and Iran" as reported by Jim Kouri for The Examiner.

Maybe the U.S. has to prepare for losing the drug wars in order to save democracy.

[humblegunner]

(Excerpt)

Why?

[umgud]

So what would legalization look like? What would they propose to legalize? Marijuana for sure. How about meth?, cocaine, heroin, prescription drugs?

[exPBRrat]

Depressing to learn of but a truthful observation I’m afraid. You would think tptb would have learned this lesson with the Prohibition experience.

[Rapscallion]

So-called recreational drugs for adults only.
Highly addictive drugs by prescription of a doctor only.
Rules against driving, operating machinery or any transportation system, guarding nuclear weapons while under the influence.
Maybe....

[stars & stripes forever]

Legalization of drugs in America is the final nail in the coffin of her demise. Pray for America.

[rabidralph]

This won’t turn out well. Why is it that the liberal answer to every moral challenge is to give up?

[Ken522]

... a liberal is afraid to fight ...

[Sacajaweau]

We’re trying to protect our kids and Obama is trying to emulate himself...”You can be President, too. Do coke!!”

[silverleaf]

Oh, once selling deathly/brain numbing/addictive products to our citizens is legal, the industry can be taxed and controlled by a new mafia- the US govt

all the violence will end, all the cartel guys will buy 3 piece suits, set up PACS and corporate offices and factories, and hire lobbyists, CPA’s and union labor. Maybe they even build their new corporate infrastructure using green techology.

think of the “jobs” and “revenue stream”

Remember the Godfgather movies where the Corleones talked about becoming legit? That all worked out well (sarc)

[blueunicorn6]

Lazy, stupid and cowardly American illegal drug users are too lazy, stupid and chicken to face reality, so they take illegal drugs to ignore reality for a few minutes. Here’s how you solve the illegal drug problem in this country.....illegal drug users quit being stupid, lazy and chicken and start working to improve their reality. Drugged people are easier to manipulate.....that’s why the Democrats love them.

[ronnie raygun]

Governments new cash cow and entreprenuerial business, DRUGS deemd illegal when not in control, now legal when in control. They will have a better chance of pushing thier agenda with a legally promoted drugged up youth in America

[Savage Beast]

Actually, this might be an effective strategy if it were done wisely and responsibly; however, do not expect ANYTHING wise or responsible from the U.S. Federal Government and the politicians who control it.

And do not expect ANYTHING wise or responsible from their agents in their Propaganda Machine, aka the Mainstream Newsmedia.

And do not expect ANYTHING wise or responsible from the millions of Americans who are stupid enough to support these people.

[silverleaf]

If their argument for the US government de facto endorsing this deadly debiltiating social vice is ostensibly to reduce violence and tax it, then it’s all or nothing or the pro-legal arguments don’t work

Just think- free needles and free addictive drugs to keep junkies present and future quiet and off the streets in the name of big brother compassion- another constitutional right under obamacare

[PghBaldy]

Where is the authority for the US to ban drugs? Why did earlier Americans decide a Constitutional Amendment was necessary to ban alcohol, yet more recent Americans decided they can ban drugs? Do they say the authority is under the Commerce Clause? What isn’t, by their reckoning. I know the answer: nothing. /half rhetorically

[varmintman]

I don't have anything to do with drugs and recommend everybody on the planet do the same; every drug problem in the world would vanish within five days if the whole world were to do that...

Nonetheless that's never going to happen, hence the "War on Drugs(TM)", instituted under Richard Nixon. This is the single biggest issue I have with Republicans and there is little if anything to choose between demmy and pubby pols on the issue. The "war on drugs" leads to

• "No-knock" raids, which are a clear violation of the fourth amendment and of the common law principle of a man's home being his "castle". In fact technically a homeowner who were to shoot and kill one or more government agents in the process of conducting a "no knock" raid would be entirely within his or her rights.
• The incarceration of large numbers of people who would otherwise never have had contact with prison systems. For many this amounts to a career training program for serious crime.
• Gang wars, drive-by shootings and the like.
• Corruption, the rise of drug cartels, and outright civil wars in other nations which supply drugs to the illegal drug enterprises here.

It is that final item which some would use as a pretext to eviscerate the second amendment, which is the link pin of the entire bill of rights. Consider the following from the former head of U.S. Customs and Border Protection under the Bush administration no less:

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/nov/17/weapons-ban-urged-to-rein-in-mexican-drug-war/

The former head of U.S. Customs and Border Protection called Monday for the U.S. to reinstitute the ban on assault weapons and take other measures to rein in the war between Mexico and its drug cartels, saying the violence has the potential to bring down legitimate rule in that country.

Former CBP Commissioner Robert C. Bonner also called for the United States to more aggressively investigate U.S. gun sellers and tighten security along its side of the border, describing the situation as "critical" to the safety of people in both countries, whether they live near the border or not.

Mexico, for its part, needs to reduce official corruption and organize its forces along the lines the U.S. does, such as a specialized border patrol and a customs agency with a broader mandate than monitoring trade, Mr. Bonner said in an exchange of e-mails.

"Border security is especially important to breaking the power and influence of the Mexican-based trafficking organizations," Mr. Bonner said. "Despite vigorous efforts by both governments, huge volumes of illegal drugs still cross from Mexico..."

The problem here clearly is not guns and it is clearly a problem of economics. The drugs one of these idiots would use in a day under rational circumstances would cost a dollar; that would simply present no scope for crime or criminals. Under present circumstances that dollar's worth of drugs is costing the user $300 a day and since that guy is dealing with a 10% fence, he's having to commit $3000 worth of crime to buy that dollar's worth of drugs. In other words, a dollar's worth of chemicals has been converted into $3000 worth of crime, times the number of those idiots out there, times 365 days per year, all through the magic of stupid laws. No nation on Earth could afford that forever.

A rational set of drug laws would:

• Legalize marijuana and all its derivatives and anything else demonstrably no more harmful than booze on the same basis as booze.
• Declare that heroine, crack cocaine, and other highly addictive substances would never be legally sold on the streets, but that those addicted could shoot up at government centers for the fifty-cent cost of producing the stuff, i.e. take every dime out of that business for criminals.
• Provide a lifetime in prison for selling LSD, PCP, and/or other Jeckyl/Hyde formulas.
• Same for anybody selling any kind of drugs to kids.

Do all of that, and the drug problem and 70% of all urban crime will vanish within two years. That would be an optimal solution; but you could simply legalize it all and still be vastly better off than we are now. 150 Years ago, there were no drug laws in America and there were no overwhelming drug problems. How bright do you really need to be to figure that one out?

[demkicker]

You are exactly right. We’ve been going down the road to Hell for several years, but have taken a huge plunge thanks to Nov 2008 and this bunch in office.

[justlurking]

Rules against driving, operating machinery or any transportation system, guarding nuclear weapons while under the influence.

Ummm, we already have those laws. They have been enacted in every state, and apply to all intoxicants, including alcoholic beverages.

What's missing is a prohibition against taxpayer-funded medical care for the consequences of abuse of intoxicants. And to be fair, I'd include alcohol and tobacco.

You want to quit? Sure, I'll help. But, I'm not paying for damage to your body that you did voluntarily.

[Hostage]

Next up, legalization of prostitution, loan sharking and extortion.

Anything goes! The Drug Lords win!

[Savage Beast]

"Governments new cash cow and entreprenuerial business, DRUGS deemd illegal when not in control, now legal when in control. They will have a better chance of pushing thier agenda with a legally promoted drugged up youth in America"

Excellent observation, RR.

The Politicians in Washington and their Henchpersons already have the American people in virtual slavery as a bunch of hypnotized, mind-numbed zombies.

The excellent Kevin McCarthy movie The Invasion of the Body Snatchers was prophetic.

You can imagine these Politicians' eyes lighting up when they envision millions of these mind-numbed zombies even more irreversibly enslaved by addictive drugs! Millions of American voters as hoplessly addicted as the worst of Dr. Phil's!And the Federal Government and its Policians as their pushers and enablers! Getting unimaginably rich--and richer!

How many luxurious jets--how many luxurious offices--how many personal financial accounts bursting at the seams--will all this drug money by for the Washington Politicians and their Henchpersons!

The mind staggers at the thought!

Caligula! Nero! Tiberius! Livia! Poppeia! Messalina! Commudus! Their minds would explode with envy!

And the American people who condemned themselves and their children and grandchildren to slavery to these rabidly greedy Predators! What of them? History's scorn and ridicule! But they themselves will be too mind-numbed and too drugged-out to know--or care--what their stupidity, carelessness, recklessness, and self-indulgence have wrought!

You wondered what would happen when the counter-culture hippies of the '60s finally had their way and took over America? Here it is!