[robertpaulsen]

"The demand in the US and other countries is so high, the street value versus cost of production so astronomical, and the poverty in colombia so extreme, that I see no reality-based reason to expect the cocaine trade in the US to change."

It's hopeless, I tell you, hopeless!

[WoofDog123]

"It's hopeless, I tell you, hopeless!"

In reality, it is. It is also a 11 or 12 digit business annually in the US, so presumably there are some very powerful interests that do not want legalization NOR any police-state style crackdown on the importation angle. Short of those options, and excluding the possiblity of large-scale ecological destruction of the fertile areas for it, what is going to 'fix' this problem?

Fwiw, I do NOT want a police-state approach to controlling cocaine, because once that precedent is in place, they will expand it to other areas before too long.