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California Legalized Drugs. Cartels Took It Over.
Gatestone Institute ^ | June 21, 2024 | Daniel Greenfield

Posted on 06/21/2024 4:52:14 PM PDT by T Ruth

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To: T Ruth

Anyone who is not an idiot knew this was going to happen.


21 posted on 06/21/2024 7:09:55 PM PDT by DouglasKC
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To: fwdude
I never understood the irrational reasoning behind legalizing drugs to “put the cartels and drug dealers out of business.”

It doesn’t work like that in real life.

In one study of more than 30 major U.S. cities during the Prohibition years of 1920 and 1921, the number of crimes increased by 24%. Additionally, theft and burglaries increased by 9%, homicides by 13%, assaults and battery rose by 13%, drug addiction by 45%, and police department costs rose by 11.4%. This was largely the result of "black-market violence" and the diversion of law enforcement resources elsewhere. Despite the Prohibition movement's hope that outlawing alcohol would reduce crime, the reality was that the Volstead Act led to higher crime rates than were experienced prior to Prohibition and the establishment of a black market dominated by criminal organizations.

https://archive.org/details/risefallofprohib00town/page/n7/mode/2up

Then a funny thing happened…crime declined.

Stop making invalid comparisons. You only look stupid doing so.

The data on the negative impact of alcohol is right there. I could do the same for the other vices listed. indeed, we have ample evidence of their destructive natures.

And yet, they remain available for anyone.

We could add pornography and other vices to that pile of Bad Things society permits.

The comparison is only invalid if the accuser is deploying a subjective/cherry-picking methodology.

The truth here, is drug criminalization has as much to do with saving lives as the prosecution of Trump has to do with upholding the law. In both cases, it’s about having power over others.

22 posted on 06/21/2024 7:32:43 PM PDT by DoodleBob (Gravity's waiting period is about 9.8 m/s² )
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To: T Ruth

Told ya


23 posted on 06/21/2024 8:42:20 PM PDT by Nifster ( I see puppy dogs in the clouds )
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To: T Ruth

cannabis seeds at mass market retailers

It’s the only way to stop the cartels.


24 posted on 06/21/2024 8:56:24 PM PDT by Brian Griffin
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To: varyouga

Quotes:

What was initially thought of as a polio epidemic was soon seen as its own separate and confusing neuropathy, with otherwise healthy adults—mostly poor or African-American men—experiencing paralysis in their extremities.

“you can’t carry any lovin’ on.”

[even that one]

https://nogakhen.com/blog/the-tragedy-of-ginger-jake


25 posted on 06/21/2024 9:02:30 PM PDT by Brian Griffin
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To: varyouga

“In 1930, 50,000 people became paralyzed” with “Jake Leg”.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2390711/


26 posted on 06/21/2024 9:07:04 PM PDT by Brian Griffin
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To: fwdude

“There’s no way of knowing because SUCH ACTIVITY IS NOT TRACKED.”

They can estimate the market for illegal drugs. Why can’t they do it with illegal beer?

L


27 posted on 06/21/2024 10:44:26 PM PDT by Lurker ( Peaceful coexistence with the Left is not possible. Stop pretending that it is.)
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To: T Ruth

I’ve heard this explained as a taxation issue. That the state adds SO MUCH tax to the sale that the black market has set up a cheaper alternative.


28 posted on 06/21/2024 11:18:58 PM PDT by FrankRizzo890
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To: T Ruth

I think everyone is overlooking something. There would be no drug trade legal or otherwise if it wasn’t for the people who make the stupid decision to use them.


29 posted on 06/22/2024 4:05:21 AM PDT by TwelveOfTwenty (Will whoever keeps asking if this country can get any more insane please stop?)
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To: TwelveOfTwenty

Most excellent comment!


30 posted on 06/22/2024 10:01:27 AM PDT by T Ruth (Mohammedanism shall be destroyed.)
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To: FrankRizzo890

I’ve heard the same thing.

It seems accurate.

In the end the black market will undercut the states anyway.

They’ll find a way. Look at the street number gambling. They pay a little more than the state if you hit and they’ll extend credit.

The black market will find a way. IMO weed should not have been legalized as much as decriminalized. The states should not be selling rec drugs and people should not become criminals for using it.


31 posted on 06/22/2024 2:02:14 PM PDT by Freest Republican (There is no tyranny that cannot be justified by imbeciles)
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To: Freest Republican
IMO weed should not have been legalized as much as decriminalized. The states should not be selling rec drugs and people should not become criminals for using it.

I agree, but there's a big problem. Not with what you said but decriminalization.

Drugs are still illegal at the federal level. They have not been decriminalized.

Yet here we are with drugs and the cartels flooding our country, because the government that we're trusting with enforcing these laws is leaving our border wide open instead.

That what makes this WOD so laughable. If the federal government intended to stop this stuff from entering the country, they could have and they would have by enforcing their own laws.

Neither decriminalization and treatment nor the WOD is going to work until we change that.

Of course someone reply will be something along the lines of "How are we going to do that when both sides are selling us out?". I don't know, but as long as we're selling out by patronizing companies that are pushing this agenda and using illegal labor over Americans, it won't change.

32 posted on 06/23/2024 5:22:38 AM PDT by TwelveOfTwenty (Will whoever keeps asking if this country can get any more insane please stop?)
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To: FrankRizzo890

It is not just the taxes—it is also the regulations.

The current version of “legalization” is a joke—a bureaucratic and taxation nightmare never proposed by libertarians anywhere.

It is like the joke about how the camel is a horse made by a committee.

The licenses to sell could have been cheap and easy—low barriers to entry.

The taxes could have been very low.

But—that is not the kleptocracy way.


33 posted on 06/23/2024 5:34:05 AM PDT by cgbg ("Our democracy" = Their Kleptocracy)
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