[justlurking]

Yes, it is far better to have drugs be illegal than to have to worry about prostitution or terrorism. What a great solution to the problem of radical Islam. Who would have thought that having drugs be illegal would be such a boon?

I know you are being sarcastic, but like (alcohol) Prohibition made organized crime rich in the US, the War on (some) drugs is making organized crime rich throughout the world.

It's not just Mexico. It's Columbia, and Afghanistan. Yes, Afghanistan. Their primary cash crop is the opium poppy. The Taliban banned it in 2001, but it's back: it's estimated that Afghanistan provides 90% of the world's supply.

When there is so much money to be made on the black market, the illegal drug manufacturers and distributors aren't afraid of breaking a few other laws. Since it was made possible to do so legally in the US with beer, wine, etc... we haven't had gunfights in the street between liquor stores.

[Candor7]

The solution to the problem is not legalizing drugs. Its more than just an economic problem. Drugs are addictive. They destroy the individual and organized society politically, economically and socially. The distribution of power becomes skewed, the distribution of wealth becomes unrelated to effort, and the culture becomes debauched.

That's what actually happens when drugs like these are legalized. I mean we manage, just barely, to function with alcohol as a legalized substance.Opiates added to the mix, for example, of recreational possibilities without medical prescription would be around 90% addictive for most individuals, and about 20% addictive after their first trial.

So I wonder why we lack the hutzpa to face the facts? The legalization remedy is too myopic, and like meddling with one aspect of nature, there are many unforeseen destructive consequences. What happened in China with opium proves that.
China was completely destroyed, one of the greatest, and longest surviving cultures in the world.What would it do to us, we have been around only a couple of hundred years?We would be no more in short order.