Mexico: "We've Had Enough of America's Stupid War on Drugs"

But what if the white market was corrupted by the former black market?
Look at it this way. There is a demand for prozac. It is illegal to sell/buy unless it is regulated, but the price is too high. The black market in let's say Canada also has a supply but it is unregulated in the U.S. and is offered much cheaper.

Now let's say that prozac is now deregulated and is freely sold.
The cost may drop a bit, but it is taxed so it may not change.
If you were to go online to buy your drugs would you stick with U.S. made or would you consider buying the same across the border for half the price?

My initial post was towards why the gangs and violence would not disappear more so than the supply and demand of drug use changing, but I also know that if the mob controls businesses and they lost their drug trade, would they not try to recoup their losses by stealing or finding ways into the company?

Originally posted by shadow watcher
There is a demand for prozac. It is illegal to sell/buy unless it is regulated, but the price is too high. The black market in let's say Canada also has a supply but it is unregulated in the U.S. and is offered much cheaper.

prozac?? apples and oranges. there's a shed load of difference between medical drugs and.....intoxicants.

we're discussing intoxicants here, so to make a fair comparison we're probably better off comparing it to booze. i think if you think about it from that perspective things may be clearer.

would you consider buying the same across the border for half the price?

this is my point with booze, i pretty much base my decision on where to buy on a scale with cost at one end and convenience at the other end. realistically, if it were free i might buy across a border but otherwise...

My initial post was towards why the gangs and violence would not disappear more so than the supply and demand of drug use changing, but I also know that if the mob controls businesses and they lost their drug trade, would they not try to recoup their losses by stealing or finding ways into the company?

the thing is, some of the gang members would stay in the business, undoubtedly, but if they are to do business in the real world it won't be the violent criminal element, it will be the business element. the violent element would become a completely redundant liability.

it wouldn't eliminate crime committed by the violent element, that'ld be too much to hope for, but the cops would have a hell of a lot more time to concentrate on the crime that remains and with the brains of the operation legitimized they'ld soon pull in the remainder.

Originally posted by verylowfrequency
Without a complete economic collapse the War on Drugs will never end.

[...]

The only war is the war for your money and the criminal justice system is winning.

Best post so far, you are right of course. Enforcement of drug laws is a cash cow for the power elite in America, and the drug laws work just fine for those folks. No mexican president can compete. It'll simply be a notch-up in the drug "War".

If George Bush had relapsed and started using coke again, how would we know? Do people become irrational on coc aine? It would suck as a prisoner if the warden was on coke, that's for sure!

reply to post by delta33

This is the Mexican culture that we are allowing into our country: Drug War terror in Mexico
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This is just a mini preview of the culture of Mexican criminals and what we can expect as more and more illegals cross into the US and bring this along with them.

So drug trafficking is what Mexico`s culture is about to you, right?.

and

Illegals will bring drug terror with them?.






[edit on 21-10-2008 by Camilo1]

Mexico's Drug Gang 101

Bodies pile up in Mexican border town as drug wars grow in ferocity
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news





Published Date: 09 October 2008

By Lizbeth Diaz

in Tijuana, Mexico
BODIES are cut up and dumped in acid. Victims are stripped naked and hung from bridges. Others have their tongues cut out before being killed – Mexican gangs are using horrifying tactics in an escalating drugs war.
Hitmen working for the cartels have massacred 70 people in the past ten days in Tijuana on the US-Mexico border. Once a freewheeling city serving Americans tequila, cheap medicines and sex, Tijuana is being devastated by the war.




The Mexican government says most of the recent victims belonged to the Arellano Felix family cartel that won notoriety in the 1990s for smuggling tonnes of coc aine into California and for its ruthless elimination of enemies.

But killings and arrests in recent years have weakened it, and other cartels are moving in to take control of the drugs trade in Tijuana and throughout the state of Baja California.

"The Arellano Felix cartel no longer has control of drug trafficking in Tijuana; rival gangs are coming into the plaza," said the state police chief, Daniel de la Rosa.

In one of the nastiest mass executions, hitmen dumped 16 bodies across Tijuana, some with their tongues cut out, late last month. Days later, police found a barrel thought to contain human remains in acid with a message from a gang threatening to make more "soup" of rivals.

The president, Felipe Calderon, has deployed thousands of troops in the city, but they have not stopped the killings and he is looking for new strategies.

Now the rival Gulf cartel and its feared armed wing, the Zetas, has joined the fight in Tijuana, fanning out from its home turf near the border with Texas.

Armed with grenades, automatic guns, dynamite and even rocket launchers, the Zetas are known for especially brutal methods, such as beheading their victims and cutting off body parts.

Mexico's most wanted man, Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman, a prison escapee who leads a cartel from the Pacific coast state of Sinaloa, also wants control of Tijuana and its smuggling corridor into California.

Guzman declared war on the Gulf cartel in 2006 and more than 3,000 people have died in turf wars so far this year.

Although under intense pressure from rival groups and the army, the Arellano Felix clan has refused to disappear. Enedina Arellano Felix, one of four sisters, is now believed to manage the family business after her brothers were arrested or shot by police.

"Enedina's sister Alicia has boosted the family operation with her son Fernando Sanchez Arellano, nicknamed The Engineer, around whom today's disputes in Tijuana resolve," said Miguel Angel Granados Chapa, a political analyst.

Sanchez Arellano has yet to unite the fractured cartel. Although Mexican officials say he has the support of Tijuana's corrupt police, his rivals are determined.

On a pile of corpses with their tongues cut out, dumped near a school, a message read: "This is what happens to those who work with the big mouth Engineer."

[edit on 23-10-2008 by delta33]

Now pot isn't so bad ... it doesn't do anything that cigarettes do and it hardly kills braincells as many people believe they do, at least not as fast as the so called studies have us believing and the only reason its not legal (at least in the states) is because its either to late to tax it or it simply can't be taxed by the government. As for the other drugs mentioned above all i can say is i hope Mexico is ready for a worsened economy because the other drugs actually effect you. As for the war on drugs they are pretty much right but like i said they might be taking it to far by legalizing the rest.

My two cents.

Depopulation of US-Mex border region disguised as drug war
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PUERTO VALLARTA, Mexico (AFP) — US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has said that Mexico has an up-hill battle in its fight against drug crime, which is also affecting the United States.

"Mexico faces unprecedented difficulties in terms of crime and the links between crime and drugs, and obviously that have -- given our long, shared border -- significant implications for the United States as well," Rice said to journalists on the way to Mexico, where she arrived late Wednesday for talks with her Mexican counterpart.

High on the agenda between Rice and Foreign Minister Patricia Espinosa is the Merida Initiative, a 400-million-dollar US anti-drug crime aid package signed into law in June by President George W. Bush.

Mexican officials, including President Felipe Calderon, have called for the rapid release of resources contained in the package -- mostly helicopters and surveillance airplanes.

"The money will start to flow because this is a national security priority for Mexico and it's a national security priority for the United States," Rice said. "We consider it to be an initiative for which there is urgency."

Almost 4,000 people have been killed in drug-related violence since Calderon took office some two years ago, despite a government crackdown involving the deployment of 36,000 troops across the country.

The violence includes gruesome beheadings, kidnappings and massacres, particularly in northern areas bordering the United States.

Rice underlined Wednesday that US officials were still working with Mexico to finalize documents on the delivery of the technical assistance.

"I think it (the aid release) will be sooner than weeks," added Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Tom Shannon, traveling with Rice.

High security measures were in place for the two-day talks in the tourist resort of Puerto Vallarta, including the deployment of 60 police officers, following an October 11 attack on the US consulate in Monterrey, south of the Texas border. A second incident where shots were fired nearby led to a brief closure of the consulate.

The talks would cover a broad range of issues including Mexico's UN security council role, development, trade as well as law enforcement, Rice said.

A Mexican proposal to decriminalize possession of small amounts of drugs and another to legalize marijuana were also expected to be discussed, as Mexican officials consider alternative methods for stemming drug crime.

More than 1,000 have died in suspected drug-linked violence in northern border areas this year, including the volatile cities of Tijuana, across from San Diego, and Ciudad Juarez, further east, across from El Paso in the United States.

US drug chief John Walters said last week in Mexico City that drug-related violence was spilling across the Mexican border into the United States.

Rice had a private dinner with Espinosa and other officials late Wednesday before further talks and a news conference on Thursday.
[link to afp.google.com]

Mexico says this every couple years. Anybody remember when Fox threatened to legalize all drugs a while back? That idea lasted all of about 3 days. I think it would be great if they did but I doubt the US will let them just yet. There's too much money in the drug trade and too many -cough- jobs at stake. Sounds like the US wants to get involved in MX more and more. I'm not thrilled about it but why not declare both 1 country and get it over with? Looks like it's only a matter of time. The funny thing is that you can't even legally buy valium, vicodin or any other possibly addictive pills over the counter anymore but they have plenty of coc aine, heroin, marijuana, ecstasy and lsd. I was friends with a mexican special forces guy for a while and he showed me some interesting pictures of where they go and what they do. They got involved in just about every major city in eastern MX. What surprised me was that this group did it all .. these guys were all trained divers, snipers, etc.. very different from how the US does things. I think the biggest problem in MX is that almost all elected officials are on the take. It's been this way for so long that they don't want anything to change $ It'll be interesting to see how this unfolds.

Thought I would post this vid here

It's from 60 minutes in Australia, quite an interesting watch.

60 minutes