Police disarmed in Mexican town

Police disarmed in Mexican town

news.bbc.co.uk

The Mexican army has confiscated guns from the entire police force of the town of Rosarito, near the Mexican border with the US.

Mexican authorities suspect that the town's police have been colluding with drug trafficking gangs.

The Rosarito force's 200 guns will be examined to see whether any were used in an attack on the town's police chief earlier this month.

One of his bodyguards was killed in the attack.

(visit the link for the full news article)

This is a really scary story, and shows one of the reasons why the war on drugs is impossible to win.

I think we sometimes forget how fortunate we are to live in countries where the police are - for the most part - trustworthy, despite what some think.

Yes there will always be bad apples, but police are human, not robots - let's be thankful that we live in societies where our armies don't have to take on our police because of the corruption caused by the massive amounts of money in illegal substances.

Now if we could just get rid of the corrupt politicians......

news.bbc.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 30/12/2007 by budski]

The "War on Drugs" could be won overnight and reap huge benefits in both taxation and quality control, if everything was legalised and controlled properly.

I understand that certain drugs, such as crack and heroin, are highly addictive and probably shouldn't be included in any legalisation, but if the Government had control over the supply and production, alot less harm would come of society than if you pushed it all underground.

People wouldn't have to rob to get enough money to pay the Black marketeers, but could get hold of it via licensed dealers, which would eliminate "bad batches", which kill, and also allow people to seek help in rehabilitation without the stigma being attached to them.

Back in the 19th century, The British Empire was possibly the worlds largest dealer in Heroin. It made mucho money for the state and provided employment for millions. It was never an issue back then, which is surprising considering that people were alot more religious and moral during that period. In London, there were as many legal opium dens as there were pubs, with every level of society involved.

Considering Alcohol is viewed, by a UK Parliamentary report released this year, as bad as Heroin in terms of damage caused to both body and society, yet it has recently been allowed to be sold 24hrs a day, the whole system at the moment is upside down.

Cannabis was downgraded to Class C by the UK a couple of years back and use amongst teenagers has actually fallen.

So it stands to reason that should it be legalised and sold from licensed retailers to those of 18+ for example, this should cut use further, whilst allowing responsible adults the choice at the same time as providing a nice revenue stream to the Inland Revenues coffers.