Park's Pot Problem Explodes (Mex. cartels linked to Mideast Terrorists)

L.A. Times ^ | 5-14-03 | Julie Cart

[txdoda]

SEQUOIA NATIONAL PARK, Calif. — On the brink of the summer tourist season, officials here are confronting an ominous reality — multimillion-dollar stands of marijuana tended by armed growers who have menaced visitors, killed wildlife, polluted streams and trashed pristine countryside.

The pot fields are financed by the Mexican drug cartels that dominate the methamphetamine trade in the adjacent Central Valley, drug enforcement officials say. The officials say there is evidence that the cartels, in turn, have financial ties to Middle Eastern smugglers linked to Hezbollah and other groups accused of terrorism.

[headsonpikes]

Your post about Aztlan and its loony adherents is extremely germane.

Even though these characters have little to do with commercial MJ production.

The Government SHOULD be actively defending America against this REAL subversive threat, instead of squandering its resources and credibility with a Cotton Matherish paranoiac obsession with weed.

Perhaps the talents of the doughnut-gobblers aren't up to taking on real enemies instead of unarmed American civilians in their own homes....

...and handy to drive-throughs.

[q_an_a]

The had legal drugs in China till the beginning of WWII. The rate of addiction was over 50% in urban areas. People will take the easy way in life and drugs are different from alcohol. They are designed to loss yourself. I little pot with dinner is not the same as a glass of wine. The joy may be different too. The penalty of addiction is so easy to count when you look at the history of China.

[Texaggie79]

I only meant that pot should be legal. No, it's not the same as a glass of wine with dinner, but it is not as bad as a kegger at the Kappa Delta Phi's.

[vin-one]

try researching the addictions in China, it was not on Pot but on opiates
which a very addicting drug, Pot however is non-physically addicting.
big difference.
the War on Drugs is a big waste of our resources.......

[eno_]

Oh i'd believe terrorists take advantage of our poorly protected borders. That still doesn't make the narco-terrorism link any more believeable, especially among California pot growers.

So ask youself this: if you want to stop terrorists infiltrating a border, do you want to do it in the midst of a thriving black market and violent mafia?

Or maybe we should end drug prohibition and dry up the profit in contraband. We might catch more illegals, too, with the resources we could pull off of interdicting drugs.

[FITZ]

Legalize it and take their profits and motivation away

How does legalizing it take away the profits and motivation? Are there less liquor stores and drunks now that Prohibition ended? Do liquor companies not make any profit? Why should the Mexican government make it's money drugging the US?

[FITZ]

make the narco-terrorism link any more believeable,

The link is very believable ---terrorist countries have big oil money, the Mexican drug cartels will do absolutely anything at all for money, they have vast networks throughout the US and the backing of their own government. What better way to bring in terrorists and their weapons against us? The Mexicans have the ability.

[eno_]

the Mexican drug cartels will do absolutely anything at all for money

Exploiting criminals and mafias is SOP for an intellgence org, and that is how AQ organize themselves. But the propaganda we get in the U.S. is about pot smoking supporting AQ, which is pure baloney.

[MrLeRoy]

The had legal drugs in China till the beginning of WWII. The rate of addiction was over 50% in urban areas.

The same drugs---opiates---were legal in the USA until the early 20th century, and the addiction rate never exceeded 0.3%.

[MrLeRoy]

How does legalizing it take away the profits and motivation?

It doesn't completely remove profits, but it sharply reduces them---and puts them in the hands of legitimate businessmen rather than criminals.

[Texaggie79]

Are there less liquor stores and drunks now that Prohibition ended?

Sorry, I didn't realize that Anheuser-Busch was funding Terrorist orgs.

[FITZ]

No ---but the Mexican drug cartels would likely do whatever they wish even if you made their cocaine and heroin legal and they could even further expand their business throughout the US. I'm not saying drugs should be illegal ---but the profits would still be there. Also the problems ---there are plenty of problems to society with alcoholism, making it legal didn't make problems alcoholics have go away.

[FITZ]

But why should Mexican drug cartels have free use of the national parklands? I think it might have been counter-productive to close down the biker meth labs only to have those replaced by Mexican meth labs ----I think a lot of the drug problem here is because we're a socialist country and the taxpayers have to provide for those willing to fail. Lots of the drug users are funded by SSI checks and food stamps, people don't have to compete.

[FITZ]

The same drugs---opiates---were legal in the USA until the early 20th century, and the addiction rate never exceeded 0.3%.

Since drug addiction rates are quite a bit higher than that now ---how would making drugs legal convince the addicts to clean up? I don't see the correlation ---I think back when opiates were legal before, there wasn't welfare or Medicaid ---people probably were more motivated not to live in a drug-induced haze because they had to earn their own living.

[Texaggie79]

Um, if it were legalized, Phillip & Morris would offer a product 10 times as cheap as what a drug cartel could.

[MrLeRoy]

But why should Mexican drug cartels have free use of the national parklands?

They shouldn't---by relegalization I mean not legalizing growing marijuana in national parklands, but relegalizing one's growing marijuana on one's own land (or legally rented land).

[MrLeRoy]

Since drug addiction rates are quite a bit higher than that now

According to government figures, "Among past year users of heroin in 2001, [...] 0.2 million were classified with dependence on or abuse of heroin."

---how would making drugs legal convince the addicts to clean up?

I'm not saying it would; I'm saying that historic addiction rates in America are more predictive of what would happen in America than are historic rates from China.

[eno_]

Just about everyone here, including the people in favor of drug legalization, want also to reform Medicare/Medicade. One aspect of drug War hypocrisy is that while we are funding a hideously expensive and ineffective Drug War, we are also funding a bunch of Dr. Feelgoods keeping their patients doped up on prescription drugs. No to the Drug War, yes to high deductables and MSAs.

[Wolfie]

Also the problems ---there are plenty of problems to society with alcoholism, making it legal didn't make problems alcoholics have go away.

But the problems of Prohibition certainly did.