What bothers me is this statement:
At least 16 pounds of Mexican meth, or "ice," was seized as part of the three-year investigation led by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE. The street value of that amount of drugs before they are cut is about $218,000.
It was a THREE YEAR investigation, and it netted $218,000 worth of meth, as well as 200 lbs of grass, 10 K's of cocaine, and assorted vehicles & guns.
So, TOP END, you'd say $600,000 worth of drugs, and stuff. How much did it cost to run the 3 year investigation? How many undercover agents were killed during that investigation? It just seems like a pretty 'small' amount, to spend 3 years on.
And, while I'm sure I'll get flamed for it, but I am definately starting to lean into the legalize it/tax it crowd. Hell, maybe it would stop the flow of illegal aliens in this country, too. They couldn't work the drug trade anymore at least.
Calm down, Ro. Do you really think this is the only bust out of this investigation?
You were thinking the same thing as I was. My first thought was, WTF? 3 pounds for 3 years? And the value they put on this stuff is "street" value, which is the most it would sell for if it was divided up into the smallest saleable quantities, which is like grams. The people that lost the drugs to the DEA sure as hell weren't expecting to get that much money for it. Every time a drug bust is written up in the news, they estimate the street value, which is what Joe Pusher sells it for. Each time the drugs change hands, they are divided into smaller and smaller units, until they are sold to the consumer. (It is quite capitalistic.)
The whole drug market is driven by 3 forces: The consumers, who want the drug and are willing to do whatever they have to to get them, the prohibitionists, who will do anything they can to keep the consumers from getting them, and the distributors, who will do anything to profit from the supplying the consumers. IMHO, it is the prohibitionists that are most responsible for the problem. The efforts they make to keep the consumers from getting the drugs raise the price of the drugs, and potentiate the vast profits that are made from them. I also opine that a large majority of people who use drugs do so because they are told not to by the prohibitionists.
I strongly favor legalization of drugs, since the removal of the prohibition would take much of the desire to do drugs away. I'm sure the people who do cocaine or meth in small quantities now might go on life-threatening binges as soon as it became legal, but that wouldn't last long. Probably one reason not to legalize drugs is to protect the poor drug users from the sudden surge of legal drugs, but I think it is a poor reason. People will die from drugs whether they are legal or illegal. If legal, maybe a few more overdoses; if drugs remain illegal, there will be people killed by other people over bills that can't be paid or sales territories, otherwise known as "turf."
At some point, we are going to have to legalize drugs, so that we can get criminals out of the drug business. Take guns, for instance. There are those that would love to get guns out of the hands of gun users, since we can't trust people to do the right thing. If guns were made illegal, they would not just go away, they would become more expensive and more difficult to get, but there would still be people with guns.