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[Shoogoo]

:lol :lol

 

[tintinrudd]

The surprising thing is how lsd has been mentioned specifically. This is not really in fashionat the moment, or for the last 15 years. Plus it's really hard to get hold of and make. So, it must be relatively popular over there. And there must be someone producing it.

How much are tickets to Mexico anyway? I assume quite a bit from London. And how expensive is it compared to London?

Some drugs are very cheap in London, you should know that.

 

[Blutonium]

Now if only there was a way to combine Mexico, Amsterdam, and Japan into one fantastic, magical country...

Amsterdam is a city

 

[excelforward]

Huh. I wonder what this will do to the drug cartels?

 

[smoothj]

damn it feels good to live in San Diego and have family in tijuana, great news for me

should stop those corrupt cops

 

[Kabouter]

And I think if you look at the amount of people who smoke weed in The Netherlands, it’s probably less than in countries like the USA where it’s illegal. (percentage-wise)

Adult lifetime cannabis use by country
Canada 44.5%
United States 42.4%
New Zealand 41.9%
Denmark 36.5%
France 30.6%
United Kingdom 29.6%
Italy 29.3%
Spain 28.6%
Germany 24.5%
Netherlands 22.6%
Belgium 13%
Portugal 7.6%

 

[Monocle]

This is a big surprise to me. Mexico has set a progressive and very important precedent. Here's hoping the US is soon to follow.

 

[Nexus Zero]

Jesus, five grams = two or three joints? That's like an eighth and a bit, right? I'm smoking some weak-ass joints...

 

[Amir0x]

I approve. Mexico ahead of the curve.

 

[andthebeatgoeson]

Haha, crack heads don't care about swine flu.

 

[Bob Loblaw]

I think Mexico just got to season 3 of the wire and thought , hey! this might work.

 

[SuperÑ]

I guess i will never travel to Mexico.

 

[XMonkey]

Jesus, five grams = two or three joints? That's like an eighth and a bit, right? I'm smoking some weak-ass joints...

Mexican weed, man...

 

[Atrophis]

The surprising thing is how lsd has been mentioned specifically. This is not really in fashionat the moment, or for the last 15 years. Plus it's really hard to get hold of and make. So, it must be relatively popular over there. And there must be someone producing it.

How much are tickets to Mexico anyway? I assume quite a bit from London. And how expensive is it compared to London?

Dude, London is swimming in LSD. Its pretty easy to get hold of.

Spoiler

And by easy i mean phone a squat rave party line on a Saturday night, turn up about 2am and walk around asking for it, you are pretty much guaranteed to score

 

[permutated]

Adult lifetime cannabis use by country
Canada 44.5%
United States 42.4%
New Zealand 41.9%
Denmark 36.5%
France 30.6%
United Kingdom 29.6%
Italy 29.3%
Spain 28.6%
Germany 24.5%
Netherlands 22.6%
Belgium 13%
Portugal 7.6%

Source?

 

[AlternativeUlster]

coke, right? half a gram runs you about 15 bucks.

Not terrible by any means. In Philadelphia I was able to get half grams for 20 but I was expecting dirt cheap Mexico prices.

:lol at the Season 3 Wire joke. Jesus Christ it would be awesome if Mexico really did that and like the are just now televising the third season of the spainish dubbed Wire. :lol

 

[Arjen]

5 grams of weed for 2-3 joints is pretty weird though, with 5 grams I smoke for 2 whole weeks, everyday.

First thing i noticed, 5 grams for 2-3 joints, holy mother of jebus, can't even imagine what so much weed in one joint wil do to you :lol

 

[Bitmap Frogs]

All that's left now is for Mexico to create a state-controlled monopoly that sells drugs cheaper than the cartels and that's it for the cartels.

 

[MNC]

This should be interesting.

 

[smoothj]

also prostitution is basically legal or at least tolerated to a certain degree, at least in TJ.

of course you always run the risk of being caught by a certain "surprise":lol

 

[RefigeKru]

Mexico's awesome.

 

[Kabouter]

Source?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adult_lifetime_cannabis_use_by_country

 

[JGS]

I'm sorry but your comparison is terrible. If anything you prove that the legalization of drugs would get rid of the drug dealers 99% of the time just like the end of prohibition decimated the alcohol dealers. Mafia lost huge profits and was forced to downsize.

You missed the point.

The legalizing of alcohol did not diminish the the criminal element, just the product. This does not even do that as drugs are still illegal. The cartels aren't going anywhere. So not only did you miss the point, you're still wrong.

The Mafia moved into illegal cigarette sales (Did you miss that?), prostitution, laundering, & were quite active and powerful way after Prohibition. Capone may have lost a bit of clout but not the Mafia. The Mafia downsized because they lost their influence - to other gangs :lol .

It's amazing how so many can try to put a rose colored sheen on things just because they want to engage in drug use. Just say that.

 

[VAIL]

Amsterdam is a city

So, it will be the capital of this magical country...

 

[bionic77]

And Mexico just became the number one tourist destination in the world.

Take that France!

 

[Baron Doggystyle von Woof]

choose a destionation GAF.

 

[jmdajr]

wow, that's crazy.

I hope the outcome is a positive one

 

[DietRob]

let's seem em try to build a wall to keep americans out.

 

[Baron Doggystyle von Woof]

Adult lifetime cannabis use by country
Jamaica 95%
Canada 44.5%
United States 42.4%
New Zealand 41.9%
Denmark 36.5%
France 30.6%
United Kingdom 29.6%
Italy 29.3%
Spain 28.6%
Germany 24.5%
Netherlands 22.6%
Belgium 13%
Portugal 7.6%

fixed.

 

[Gamecocks625]

Crap, now the next World Cup Qualifying match against Mexico at Azteca is REALLY going to suck.

 

[Jackl]

The US will have to consider something similar soon. Jails of counties and states all along the border are overcrowded. Cali just got a court order do something about it or release 40,000 prisoners.

Either decriminalize some/all drugs, or find money that doesn't exist in a budget thats tight as a drum to build more prisons.

 

[acidviper]

Adult lifetime cannabis use by country
Canada 44.5%
United States 42.4%

Those numbers are bullshit.

 

[Jackl]

The drug cartels are such a huge problem now as well. Full blown mafia warfare atm. Theres no point going after the end user anymore. It's like busting someone on a torrent site, but not going after the tracker hosts. Total waste of time and resources.

 

[jorma]

Those numbers are bullshit.

If you have better stats, please share. These figures are from the WHO so it's not like they are totally made up from thin air.

 

[Shorty]

Those numbers are bullshit.

YOU are bullshit

 

[Stumpokapow]

Those numbers are bullshit.

they're bullshit like census numbers are bullshit

 

[Amibguous Cad]

Damn good idea.

Don't know if this has been brought up, but a similar program has been very successful in Portugal. You can learn more about it here:

http://www.cato.org/event.php?eventid=5887
http://cato.everyzing.com/m/audio/22072630/drug-decriminalization-in-portugal.htm?seek=2.679
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/03/14/portugal/index.html
http://www.cato.org/pubs/wtpapers/greenwald_whitepaper.pdf

You missed the point.

The legalizing of alcohol did not diminish the the criminal element, just the product. This does not even do that as drugs are still illegal. The cartels aren't going anywhere. So not only did you miss the point, you're still wrong.

The Mafia moved into illegal cigarette sales (Did you miss that?), prostitution, laundering, & were quite active and powerful way after Prohibition. Capone may have lost a bit of clout but not the Mafia. The Mafia downsized because they lost their influence - to other gangs :lol .

It's amazing how so many can try to put a rose colored sheen on things just because they want to engage in drug use. Just say that.

You're being willfully ignorant if you think that repealing prohibition didn't weaken organized crime. They were still around, and still fairly powerful, but nowhere near their zenith.

In any case, you're right that since sale and distribution are still illegal, this won't have much effect on the cartels. What it will do, hopefully, is stop compounding the misery drugs inflict on people by sticking them in prison for several years and getting a black mark on their record, and free up the funds used to incarcerate these people to be used elsewhere- like, say, into winning the war against the cartels.

 

[JGS]

Damn good idea.

Don't know if this has been brought up, but a similar program has been very successful in Portugal. You can learn more about it here:

http://www.cato.org/event.php?eventid=5887
http://cato.everyzing.com/m/audio/22072630/drug-decriminalization-in-portugal.htm?seek=2.679
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/03/14/portugal/index.html
http://www.cato.org/pubs/wtpapers/greenwald_whitepaper.pdf



You're being willfully ignorant if you think that repealing prohibition didn't weaken organized crime. They were still around, and still fairly powerful, but nowhere near their zenith.

In any case, you're right that since sale and distribution are still illegal, this won't have much effect on the cartels. What it will do, hopefully, is stop compounding the misery drugs inflict on people by sticking them in prison for several years and getting a black mark on their record, and free up the funds used to incarcerate these people to be used elsewhere- like, say, into winning the war against the cartels.

It may have weakened, but it's willfully ignorant to say that the Prohibition ended the Mafia's dominance. Wrong. The Mafia, like any business that wants to survive, figured out a way to survive. They're doing it right now.

Of course, if you take away a revenue stream, it's going to affect things negatively. However, the Prohibition did not affect them that much because they moved onto other things. I was always under the impression they got stronger after WWII. That may be The Godfather talking though. They are probably still the largest criminal organization on the planet.

The government taking a "by any means necessary" stance with them is what lessened their influence. That happened several decades farther along than the Prohibition. The problem is they did it at the expense of letting other groups grow. Which is where we're at now. The only way that cartels are going to leave is if you legalize them which would guarantee the US would never sign onto drug legalization.

Otherwise, they are already bold enough to kill cops. They ain't going anywhere. It's not like they are going to say "Dang! They legalized drugs! Let's pack up amigos!!!"

They are going to continue to fight for their revenue. If they lose that battle- no big deal; they'll move onto something else worth killing for. Regardless, legal drugs will never be the panacea everyone thinks it is.

FIXED FOR MASSIVE GRAMMATICAL ERRORS!!!!

 

[Death Dealer]

damn, but the personal use limit is very very low when it comes to methamphetamine and LSD.

seriously, .015 mg of LSD ?
Is that even a threshold dose ? I thought a "hit" was usually at least .050 mg.

Whoever wrote the law didn't think about it.

 

[Calcaneus]

All the health care I need, Mexico knows whats up.

 

[Kipz]

It doesn't matter about the LSD limit anyhow. Most cops aren't smart enough to recognise it let alone measure out the microgram dosages.

 

[SSM25]

Wait wat?. I fucking live in Mexico, how did I found about this on gaf?

 

[1-D_FTW]

I guess i will never travel to Mexico.

Think of it this way, the odds of a junkie violently attacking you in a desperate crime to score money for his next hit... significantly down.

The odds of getting killed by a stray bullet from warring street gangs who sell drugs... significantly down.

Seems like Mexico just made it a much safer place for you to travel.

 

[Scuba Steve]

How does decriminalizing these drugs put an end to drug dealers?

If anything, they're business gets boosted ten fold! Theses drugs are still illegal, so a dealer is necessary for the most part to even get ahold of these drugs.

But because it's decriminalized they get more business

 

[SolarPowered]

How does decriminalizing these drugs put an end to drug dealers?

If anything, they're business gets boosted ten fold! Theses drugs are still illegal, so a dealer is necessary for the most part to even get ahold of these drugs.

But because it's decriminalized they get more business

I can imagine that they will get more business now, but I can see that there might be a bit of an incentive to relax now that so much cash will be floating around. This is also step 1 in the grand scheme of things. I can imagine that the government wants to control the distribution of drugs, and the gangs don't want to push the gov to that point. Now the cartels have to wise up or face the consequences. It's sort of like a old western standoff at this point.

 

[Barbacoatl]

Wait wat?. I fucking live in Mexico, how did I found about this on gaf?

There's been scarce mention of the news in the big newspapers (ex. el universal). Going by the comments, lots of people are pissed off about it. Let them cry, they'll forget about it in 2 months or less, depending on the telenovela airing at the time.

 

[Boogie]

Yea you really need to live in magical left-wing fantasyland if your opinion is that the war on drugs is a huge gigantic failure that can never succeed.

I didn't say that current drug policy is a success.

My comment was directed specifically to fortified_concept, who is a certified, raging nutbar.

And comparing the drug smuggling business with the cigarette smuggling business and from that drawing the conclusion that decriminalization is bad, just make you look dumb.

Didn't say that either. Please don't put words in my mouth.

I brought up cigarettes because of the idea espoused by some that complete decriminalization/legalization will completely eliminate organized crime violence. I've seen statements to that effect repeatedly in these threads.

Yes, there are criminals doing it, because it's overtaxed. Where there is money to be made, then people will be there trying to make money off it. If we were to criminalize tobacco use, you would have gang style cigarette murder sprees within weeks, as new groups of people tried to get their cut of the new gigantic market that just got opened.

I'm aware of that.

If you really wanted to reduce cigarrette smuggling, the only - only - viable way to do it, is to lower the taxes on tobacco. But seeing as there is a lot of money to be made on taxing tobacco, we will continue to have cigarette smugglers. And whats the big deal with that? The only thing we lose is some tax income.

Tax income is not the only loss. Illicit cigarette money helps fund organized crime groups involved in other activities, be it car theft rings, or, especially, gun smuggling.

Nothing is perfect. Yes, cigarettes are one of the biggest smuggled substances. But so what? All that means is reduced tax revenue. No big deal.

Ya, again, I'm just pointing out that there would be complications even if drugs were legalized, that it's not the utopian solution some see it as.

And it's NOT just reduced tax revenue. Did you miss my "anecdote"? It's reduced tax revenue, plus funding for gun smuggling, plus other additional violence (ie. my anecdote about my father being robbed at gunpoint)

 

[Particle Physicist]

what? .. .. what?





what?

 

[Yackie]

Holy Moly. Hopefully they pull it off so it can act as a precedent for future US policy

 

[Alivor]

Well with the drug wars and whatnot, I guess they think this will help or something.