Posted on 03/30/2010 7:53:02 AM PDT by AIM Freeper
The conservative Townhall.com website, owned by the Salem Communications company, a Christian firm, is distributing a column by Steve Chapman claiming that the legalization of marijuana will somehow undermine the power of the Mexican drug trafficking organizations and usher in a new era of peace and tranquility north of the border. The silly column more appropriately belongs on a website associated with George Soros, the moneybags behind the drug legalization movement.
"Mexico is the biggest supplier of cannabis to the United States," he writes. "Control of that market is one of the things that Mexican drug cartels are willing to kill for. Legalizing weed in this country would be their worst nightmare. Why? Because it would offer Americans a legitimate supply of the stuff."
What he fails to realize is the fact that the Mexican drug cartels have already infiltrated the U.S. and are growing the "stuff" in the United States. Hence, legalization could have the effect of making these criminals into "legitimate" businessmen. "Big Marijuana" could join "Big Pharma" as another powerful special interest group. In order to be consistent, "Big Cocaine" and "Big Meth" would have to follow.
"Mexican DTOs [Drug Trafficking Organizations] have expanded their cultivation operations into the United States, an ongoing trend for the past decade," notes the recently released National Drug Threat Assessment for 2010. "Well-organized criminal groups and DTOs that produce domestic marijuana do so because of the high profitability of and demand for marijuana in the United States. These groups have realized the benefits of producing large quantities of marijuana in the United States, including having direct access to a large customer base, avoiding the risk of detection and seizure during transportation across the U.S.-Canada and U.S.-Mexico borders, and increasing profits by reducing transportation costs."
(Excerpt) Read more at aim.org ...
Ironic this is from “Accuracy in Media”. You can be against the insane War on Drugs and not be “for dope”.
Ditchweed is so easy to grow that the only reason it is profitable is the fact that it’s illegal.
Most people would grow their own rather than purchase it. Worrying that DTO’s would become legitimate is a straw man argument because that’s the whole point of legalization.
They simply couldn’t compete in an open and legal free market because the drop in price would leave them undercapitalized compared to already established farmers with land and equipment using modern farming methods instead of hand tools in the deep woods to avoid detection.
Sure - legalizing pot will make all the criminals give up their lives of depravity and become model citizens. (Sheesh, the stupidity of people is astounding.)
Isn't it more logical to assume that they will continue to move cocaine, heroin, meth, ecstasy, humans and weapons through their existing networks?
About 50% of drug profits to Mexican mobs come from pot.
If pot were a commercial crop in the U.S., our producers would grow better quality at a cheaper price, putting the Mexican pot growers out of business.
With 50% less money available to destabilize the Mexican government, we would have a less volatile neighbor on our border.
Pot is widely available and grown in the U.S. It is doubtful that anyone who wants pot cannot already get it.
My neighbor has a commercial pot farm, and nobody is going to bother him about it. The local DA has told the police not to bring him any pot cases. Medical marijuana is legal in Oregon.
Governments shouldn’t have laws that are universally disrespected. It creates an environment of general disrespect for the law.
Prohibition of alcohol failed. Prohibition of pot has failed.
Get over it. The war on Pot has failed.
Legalize it, take the profits away from the drug gangs, and give the profits to ingenious American farmers.
(Sheesh, the stupidity of people is astounding.)
In the interests of accuracy, I believe jails are full of pot distributors, not pot smokers. I’m not aware of any mass of people imprisoned for possessing a joint for personal use.
Suppose CA votes to legalize. Do you think CA has the legitimate prerogative under the 10th Amendment to enact such a program? Or do you think the Commerce Clause authorizes fedgov to shut it down?
Do you stand with Uncle Miltie on this issue?
It looks to me that the Progressives have control of BOTH sides of the drug re-legalization movement.
After all, it was the Progressive Movement back in the early 20th Century that started this unconstitutional monstrosity known as drug prohibition, & now it’s the Progressive moneybag Soros that is funding a small part of ending the Drug War. Therefore, those like Mr. Kimcaid are acting just like the early Progressives did, w/o the racism & euthanasia platitudes that were used back in those days.
The archane ideas of liberty, limited government & individual responsibility is screwed no matter what, it seems.
Good grief, what a leap. And pardon the pun, but apparently this author's ignorance has no bounds, especially when it comes to medical use. I am with Judge Napolitano on this one.
May God continue to bless both of them.
Your boss wants fedgov to move against States with medical marijuana programs. Has Cliff ever heard of the Tenth Amendment? Cliff apparently shares the same view of the Commerce Clause as Nancy Pelosi:
What say you?
Yes but pot makes up 70% of all illicit drug use. You think their criminal enterprise can take a financial hit like that and not shrink? The effect of legalizing pot would probably cause more users to gravitate to it rather than the harder drugs because of availability and price.
From a market perspective legalization makes perfect sense and from a constitutional perspective it’s long overdue. Just because you don’t like dopers doesn’t mean you have the right to tell them to clean up their lives.
Legalize it, tax it and allow employers to fire employees that use. The functional members of society will remain so and the criminal aspects will diminish just like after prohibition and the fall of the mobs.
Absolutely. This is just more name-calling & lying by the author. Those of us on the political Right should know better than to use these tactics...leave them to the Saul Alinsky / Lefty crowd.
I’ve often warned other conservatives bent on the continued use of the commerce clause to wage the WOD and the potential consequences (like ObamaCare) in the future. Now I’m validated in my warning. Their petty desire to tell other people how to live their lives now affect us all.
OBTW - I’m in no way an advocate of pot smoking. It is a total waste of time, money, brain power, etc.
Conservatism in some ways should be a recognition of the reality of mankind. We try to uphold standards of conduct when upholding them actually improves society.
I believe that attempting to uphold a standard of a non-pot-smoking culture has failed, and is net counterproductive to society.
I agree. A pity but there you have it.
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