Posted on 10/12/2010 9:04:20 PM PDT by Free in Texas
Yeah...a voodoo of sorts.
Once again "Please explain how legalizing or decriminalizing cocaine, heroin and marijuana (which has never worked by the way) will lead to a lessening of communist insurgency, gang violence or terrorist attacks."
I seem to recall that organized crime was heavily involved in illegal booze during prohibition but seems to have done just fine since prohibition was repealed..
Rereading, I see I misread, Apologies.
Decriminalization is a half-assed measure. Legalization has never been tried. You can’t say both have been tried and failed.
Legalization of the entire supply chain will lead to industrial production, and the prices will fall drastically. The large markups that the Mafia/FARC/Taliban rely on to fund their activities will disappear.
Sure, prohibition(alcohol) was lifted, but the prohibition on other drugs, which was imposed at around the same time was never lifted, and the mafia, probably weakened a bit, but shifted over to other sources of income.
To have any chance of success virtually all countries would have to implement it simultaneously (can you say "one world government?) and all black market production facilities and distribution networks would have to be shut down (we're trying to do that now) or brought under gubmint control.
Although the US is probably the biggest consumer of cocaine, marijuana and meth from Mexico and S. America; Europe, Africa and Asia are growing markets and I dare say there would be little control on the second 2 continents.
Let's take tobacco as another example. I would venture to guess that production and distribution is under government control as much as it can be and it is being taxed in many states at exorbitant rates which has led to smuggling which is controlled by organized criminal gangs and terrorist organizations with billions in profit.
Well, a hundred years ago in the US there were no illegal substances (The first anti-marijuana laws were passed in 1913 in California). There was no epidemic of addiction. The percentage of addicts has not changed much at all since then, so people are not going to suddenly become addicted just because it’s made legal.
Nah. If the US legalizes drugs, that will drive the prices way down, and we will drastically undercut the black market. The US will make large amounts of money too, as a major exporter.
Right, so don’t tax it exorbitantly. Black markets exist because of bans and excessive taxes. Remove the taxes, and the black market will go away, along with the gangs who benefit from it.
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