You think that drug dealers would be able to compete on a level playing field with pharmaceutical corporations that could produce drugs for 5-10% of the black market price? How exactly? The only reason they're so profitable with their drug endeavors is because they are willing to take the risks of being jailed or killed in order to make enormous profits. Moonshine is a separate issue. People are making moonshine to avoid the whiskey taxes.
Please get back to me when you take a basic microeconomics course that covers supply and demand.
The idea it will make drug gangs go away is a fairy tale. Just as it didn’t make crime go away in Amsterdam. Now Amsterdam has realized the ignorance of their ways and are prohibiting the sale of drugs to tourists.
Amsterdam doesn't have legalized drugs. They allow possession and use in private (either in a home or in a coffee shop), but they still have penalties for drug dealing and trafficking. So does Portugal for that matter, but they aren't backing off their experiment. Portuguese youth use drugs at lower rates than American youth, especially harder drugs.
They are shooting Americans now who aren’t doing anything. You obviously know little about the motivations of criminals. Put down the bong and open your eyes to the real world.
I haven't used marijuana here since college. It's a classic attack tactic to smear those who are against the WOD as drug users. I drink maybe twice a year -- if you drink more frequently than that, you're a silly alcohol addict, right?
You say that cartels are shooting Americans who aren't doing anything. Why do cartels exist? How about the cops that kill Americans in their homes executing drug warrants based on flimsy evidence? Ever heard of Jose Guerena? A USMC vet and Iraq war vet, he was gunned down by Tucson SWAT in front of his wife and daughter.
The facts beat your microeconomics. The facts are out there for you to see. In the 20s when prohibition ended the crime bosses still dealt with sales of booze as if it were still illegal. The market was already there they just found a new way to profit from it.
In Amsterdam, the crime syndicate still had their hands in the legal prostitution and drug sales. After drugs and prostitution were made legal in Amsterdam, the society started a downward spiral that they have never crawled back out of. Before legalization, 80% of the country was christian. 20 years after legalization less than 20% are christian. Criminals will always find a way to deal in vices whether they are legal or not. Making them legal just legitimizes the criminals but it doesn’t end their criminality. Legalization destroys the community and the morals of everyone in the country. It’s evidence can be found in countries that have no laws on drugs or vices. Amsterdam is trying to clean up its act now. It has learned from its mistakes.
Good for you. You put down the bong. But you’re still wrong headed about the reason drugs are illegal and how making them legal will make crime go away. You guys talk about the WOD being used to take away our 2nd amendment rights, but you fail to see that the majority of Americans support the 2nd amendment and that we have that amendment as part of our constitution. Last time I looked there was no amendment to the right to do drugs.
Yes, I heard of the case you mention. While I don’t condone what the police did I do remember reading that Guerena greeted the officers with a shotgun. Big mistake. He would have been better off if he had not given them a reason to shoot him. The cops were wrong and mistakes do happen, but this could have been avoided if he had just kept a cool head.