Less than a third of pot sales in CA are legal, since the state taxes it, meaning legal outlets pay and the drug dealers don’t. Do you seriously think that legalizing drugs will make the drug gangs shrug, get legal and give up probably about 50% of their profits?
This is an entrenched criminal network and it’s international and makes serious efforts to get Americans addicted, particularly taking advantage of pre-Trump despair in rural and semi-rural areas. Get these people working and respected and they won’t be doing Chinese made drugs smuggled by the gangs through Mexico.
Sorry, but we need to treat this like the war that it is. The fact that the gang rolled into this town with the gang initials and logo professionally painted on the side of their trucks - at least two of which had Texas plates - means that we have a serious problem here and Mexico is not capable of dealing with it.
“Do you seriously think that legalizing drugs will make the drug gangs shrug, get legal and give up probably about 50% of their profits?”
Did I say anything about legalizing drugs? But then again you probably mean de-criminalizing drugs. All drugs are legal unless the government makes them illegal.
But now you are changing the subject to tax evasion instead of drug usage. You deal with tax evasion by lowering the taxes to the point were they are nit worth evading or up the penalties for non-compliance. Or do you want to hear about
Prohibition and revenuers? Or maybe cigarettes and taxes ala NYC?
Our government and our society has decided that we will not punish users in a severe enough manner as to eliminate usage. All I said was that so long as there is a demand for the drugs now deemed illegal there will be supply. Do you argue that point? So long as drugs are illegal only criminals will have drugs.
“...Get these people working and respected and they won’t be doing Chinese made drugs smuggled by the gangs through Mexico.” As a resident of a pre-Trump despair area I call BS on your nonsense.
“...means that we have a serious problem here and Mexico is not capable of dealing with it.” Why is an incident in Mexico mean that “we” have a problem? The fact that the gang may have rolled in from Texas indicates that the US has a problem it is inflicting on Mexico.