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VICE: Legal pot in U.S. is hurting Mexican drug cartels.

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DopeToast

Banned
This has to be a good thing, right? An honest to goodness legal sale of marijuana in all fifty states would be boss, and very slowly we're getting there. Never really thought much about the DEA before now, but that seems scummy.
 

coldfoot

Banned
Less money = less gang members (they don't work for free) = less guns (they cost money) = less violence.
And LOL at the diversification of cartels, nothing will ever come close to the money making potential of drugs.
Win/win except for the DEA and the cartels.
 
Yeah, no surprise here but as stated, it's in the DEA's best interest that the black market remains. History repeats, blah blah blah.
 

GungHo

Single-handedly caused Exxon-Mobil to sue FOX, start World War 3
There's more than just pot out there.

Not for potheads. They see that one thing as their magical mystery tour. They haven't figured out that just because the weed gets a nod that it doesn't mean that they're free to sherm that shit.
 

Lowmelody

Member
Here in Vancouver you can buy pot out of a vending machine for 50 bucks a half oz.

Nice, that's not bad at all. More or less what I'm accustomed to. I'm also pretty sure that vending bud would be better than what I could get for that amount and price where I live.

A fan coke legalization too. :)
 

PBalfredo

Member
Alcohol is far from being a harmless drug. Should it be criminalized?

Just because one thing that's bad for you gets a pass (because it's so deeply ingrained in every society since society itself was invented) we should open the door for everything that's bad?
 

tokkun

Member
This is a pretty terrible article.

The Vice author is misrepresenting the Washington Post article, which states that the pot prices in Sinaloa have been in decline for 5 years. The stores in Colorado have been open for less than 6 months. It's not hard to figure out that the decline should not be solely attributed to legalization The WP article later states that part of the reason for the increase in supply in the US is that cartels are operating illegal pot farms in California rather than in Mexico.

The Vice article goes on to suggest that the DEA is unhappy about the decrease in Mexican pot prices because they want to protect the Sinaloa cartel's profits. However the main point of the Washington Post article is that the cartels have switched to growing poppies and producing heroin in Mexico instead because it is more profitable, and that heroin exports from Mexico to the US are replacing pot. Further, the WP article states that Sinaloa controls 50% of the total heroin trade, which suggests that they may actually be making more money under the new system.
 

mantidor

Member
Alcohol is far from being a harmless drug. Should it be criminalized?

what I was going to say.

Legalizing doesn't mean drugs for everyone, it never should. All the stuff that applies to alcohol, tobacco and now marihuana should apply to other drugs as well. Age limits, driving limitations, production control and taxing, public health campaigns etc, etc, etc.
 

Lowmelody

Member
Just because one thing that's bad for you gets a pass (because it's so deeply ingrained in every society since society itself was invented) we should open the door for everything that's bad?

Decriminalization is not legalization. We need to turn all substance abuse polices to health care and away from prisons.
 

Fuchsdh

Member
They'll probably turn to violence. Not good.

Yeah there's not a good solution. I hate when people pretend like disrupting the pot industry is going to lead to organized crime magically putting down their arms. They'll break into another industry. That said I don't think our drug policy towards marijuana was effective either.
 

PBalfredo

Member
Decriminalization is not legalization. We need to turn all substance abuse polices to health care and away from prisons.

Sure, I completely agree. But you'll see that I was responding to people calling for legalization of harmful drugs like cocaine. No one in this thread has said anything about decriminalizing the use of drugs until just now.
 

Chichikov

Member
Just because one thing that's bad for you gets a pass (because it's so deeply ingrained in every society since society itself was invented) we should open the door for everything that's bad?
We generally don't criminalize things that are unhealthy for you, drugs are the exception in our society (and a rather arbitrary one at that).

The war on drugs, any drugs, doesn't make sense.
 

demon

I don't mean to alarm you but you have dogs on your face
Just because one thing that's bad for you gets a pass (because it's so deeply ingrained in every society since society itself was invented) we should open the door for everything that's bad?

Why is one an exception? Why can you justify turning users of one into criminals but not users of another?
 
Legalizing marijuana is fine because it actually is a harmless drug. Cocaine, no so much.

So continue the same policy with poor results. The war on drugs has done nothing to curb usage rates or the violence surrounding drugs. Portugal on the other hand ...

But yeah ... You're right. We should just keep banging our head against the same wall hoping for a different result each time.
 

Lowmelody

Member
Yeah there's not a good solution. I hate when people pretend like disrupting the pot industry is going to lead to organized crime magically putting down their arms. They'll break into another industry. That said I don't think our drug policy towards marijuana was effective either.

I find it worse when people toss out uninformed speculation as an argument against the only possible answer to the current socially omnipotent blood letter that is drug enforcement policy. We need to do what is right for the greater good and still focus on the criminal elements left behind. Sitting on our thumbs and allowing them single handily dictate drug policy for everyone because we can't 'stir the hive' does nothing but compound the problem.
 

LaNaranja

Member
“So there’s no such thing as a legal marijuana business,” Dunagan said. “Technically, a DEA agent could still walk into any marijuana dispensary in Colorado and seize the money, and arrest everyone.”

Can you image the huge backlash that would come if they actually tried this?
 

Satch Fuji

Neo Member
Legalizing marijuana is fine because it actually is a harmless drug. Cocaine, no so much.

Whether or not you like Joe Rogan, he did do an excellent podcast with Dr. Carl Hurt, a psychology professor at Columbia who specializes in researching the effect of drugs. Turns out that commonly held beliefs, like one hit from a crack pipe makes you an addict or the way drug addicts are shown in media, are myths. For example, people act as if quitting hard drugs, including cigarettes, is almost impossible without months and months of detox. His research showed that the symptoms from drug abstinence after prolonged use were almost exactly like having the flu; it's shitty for a week but then your fine. Your best bet is to take a week off work and have a buddy help you out or counseling. Marijuana may not be that bad though there is still more to research, but you will still have withdrawal symptoms if your a chronic user and then quit.

Remember when Rush Limbaugh was caught with bottles and bottles of Oxycontin? While we were having fun labeling him a hypocrite, nobody really took the time to realize that he was 100% a drug addict for years yet at the same time hosted a multi-million dollar radio business. There are far more of these functional addicts than the decrepit addicts we see on TV.

So if drugs are not the root cause of problems but merely a symptom, what's the problem? Stop me if you've heard this one: high unemployment, reductions in mental health funding, the prison industrial complex. And don't forget the Donald Serlings of the world - it pays to be bigoted in housing. Anecdotally everyone has their story about a friend or relative consumed by drugs. But don't blame it solely on the drugs, there are likely underlying problems that led to them taking the drugs in the first place. That drug you blame may be the same that gave him those hours of relief from his debilitating circumstances and depressed mind.
 

PBalfredo

Member
We generally don't criminalize things that are unhealthy for you, drugs are the exception in our society (and a rather arbitrary one at that).

The war on drugs, any drugs, doesn't make sense.

What? Sure we do. All the time. Seat belt laws, anyone? Cigarette regulations. New York soda tax, etc etc
 
What? Sure we do. All the time. Seat belt laws, anyone? Cigarette regulations. New York soda tax, etc etc

Seat belt was the only one made illegal. He did use the word generally as well. The rest you brought up were regulations.

I'm curious about what you think seperates decriminalization from legalization. Why for one and not the other.
 

Chichikov

Member
What? Sure we do. All the time. Seat belt laws, anyone? Cigarette regulations. New York soda tax, etc etc
Regulation and taxation are not criminalization, and seatbelt laws?
Really?
You want to have this discussion on that pedantic of a level?

The undeniable fact is that there are shit ton of unhealthy things that are 100% legal to consume, from cheeseburgers through sodas and snacks to alcohol.
Drugs, which again, is a rather arbitrary classification, are the exception to the rule, and their criminalization achieved no positive results for society.
 

Piecake

Member
Regulation and taxation are not criminalization, and seatbelt laws?
Really?
You want to have this discussion on that pedantic of a level?

The undeniable fact is that there are shit ton of unhealthy things that are 100% legal to consume, from cheeseburgers through sodas and snacks to alcohol.
Drugs, which again, is a rather arbitrary classification, are the exception to the rule, and their criminalization achieved no positive results for society.

They make self-righteous moralizers feel good about themselves and superior to others
 

PBalfredo

Member
Seat belt was the only one made illegal. He did use the word generally as well. The rest you brought up were regulations.

I'm curious about what you think seperates decriminalization from legalization. Why for one and not the other.

No sense punishing the users, who are the victims of addiction, which discourages them reaching out for help. But it's not okay to be the one pushing harmful and addictive drugs onto others. The War on Drugs hasn't been working, and we need to rethink a lot of it. A lot. But saying "fuck it, whatever" and allowing everything and anything isn't going to make people get addicted to drugs less.
 
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