I wonder if we could find a way of making these drugs less "popular", similar to how we've done with smoking. That might require legalizing them, so I'm not sure it would actually reduce consumption. But it would hurt the cartels either way.
How a Mexican Drug Cartel Makes Its Billions
141–150 of 248 posts
Re: How a Mexican Drug Cartel Makes Its Billions
#142There's a direct correlation between misery and drug use, as well as a direct correlation between misery and high levels of social inequality.
People who agonize between the dangers of prohibition vs. the dangers of legalization (or even decriminalization) are doing so in the context of a highly unjust society that offers virtually no social mobility, no access to the courts for anyone who isn't fantastically rich, no prospect for wage growth for anyone who isn't already in the top 10%, no job security for anyone not worth putting under contract (i.e. nearly everyone), and the terrifying prospect of loosing access to the health care system in the event of a job loss - all of which imposes tremendous levels of anxiety and insecurity for the vast majority of its members.
In spite of all this, we're still rich enough for most people to have some disposable income. Add that to the conditions under which most people live, and it's no wonder that the US is, per capita, a tremendously big consumer of drugs.
Given this environment, either option will have predictably bad results. But a society that was far less friendly to the winner-take-all ethos, and more concerned with basic health and economic security for a large middle-class population would find that drug coming down to much more manageable levels, making the decriminalization route a much more attractive option.
Re: How a Mexican Drug Cartel Makes Its Billions
#143Laws could punish behavior that affects other people rather than behavior that does not.
With alcohol, it is legal but certain actions that involve alcohol are not, like driving. So, driving while high would be illegal and there would still penalities for committing other crimes while using drugs, but casual use that affects only oneself would not be illegal.
However, there may be other consequences to actions like higher medical premiums or getting fired from a job for misuse, etc.
To me, laws should be designed to protect people from other members of society, not to protect people from themselves. Breaking someone else's things is illegal, but breaking your things is not.
Re: How a Mexican Drug Cartel Makes Its Billions
#144The only way to stop these large criminal enterprises is to legalize the stuff. Just like alcohol prohibition created some of the most notorious American criminals, South American drug prohibitions produce powerful criminals down there. There isn't any large crime related to South American cocoa or coffee imports. Legalize it and then spend money and make laws regulating consumption, it would greatly reduce the miser…
The problem isn't gangs; it's gang violence. Making their crimes less stringently punished (reducing the paranoia within their ranks) as well as doing more to restrict the flow of arms from the United States (a better use of funds than incarcerating college potheads) seems a more sensible experiment to try before full legalisation. Consider the negative externalities of cocaine use (much higher than marijuana's); the…
What if production and sale were legal, but consumption was illegal?
Re: How a Mexican Drug Cartel Makes Its Billions
#145Earlier quoted context omitted.
At this point, I doubt it will help. Why? The cartels thrive in countries where you can essentially buy off any official. When you legalize drugs, they aren't going to suddenly stop selling it. They will now have a legal business which will continue to fund their criminal empires. We most likely will see an increase in other crimes, like extortion and kidnapping. Drugs are still illegal in the US and we don't really…
Cartels wouldn't have a business selling something like marijuana post-legalization. Just about anybody can grow it almost anywhere so its natural market value is extremely low. I doubt there are a lot of gangs financing their criminal activity off of potato sales or whatever. Extortion and kidnapping must be way less pleasant and much more difficult than dealing drugs. It's very hard to believe that they could scale…
I disagree. I think the cartels or some large agro businesses would set up huge farms just like tobacco farms. I'm fairly certain it's perfectly legal to grow tobacco in your backyard, but no on does because it's so much cheaper and easier to buy it from a farm.
So those people with expertise in growing it would continue to do so but out in the open in huge farms and profits would plummet to near at-cost production levels as they compete with similar large farms.
Re: How a Mexican Drug Cartel Makes Its Billions
#146I've found this article to be 100 times as effective when listening to this as I read it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-wtJuqyKko
Re: How a Mexican Drug Cartel Makes Its Billions
#147There's a direct correlation between misery and drug use, as well as a direct correlation between misery and high levels of social inequality. People who agonize between the dangers of prohibition vs. the dangers of legalization (or even decriminalization) are doing so in the context of a highly unjust society that offers virtually no social mobility, no access to the courts for anyone who isn't fantastically rich, n…
Dont blame Mexico for US generated demand. If not Mexico then some other poor country would supply. The US should legalize to finish the cartels off.
Re: How a Mexican Drug Cartel Makes Its Billions
#148If you guys have interest in this topic, this is a good blog to watch:
Re: How a Mexican Drug Cartel Makes Its Billions
#149The only way to stop these large criminal enterprises is to legalize the stuff. Just like alcohol prohibition created some of the most notorious American criminals, South American drug prohibitions produce powerful criminals down there. There isn't any large crime related to South American cocoa or coffee imports. Legalize it and then spend money and make laws regulating consumption, it would greatly reduce the miser…
I always see this argument when it comes to drug violence in Mexico but I don't think it is that simple.
If the goventment gets involved I'm sure it will want a highly regulated system, just like it does with all of the alcohol regulations on the books now. If the government says that only X supplers or growers are allowed to legally sell drugs then I can't see how this is going to be cheaper than stuff that is out on the street. If the government wants to make drugs on par with high end drug cartels that customers like I see it being overrun in bureaucracy and will cost the buyer much more than if they hit up their local dealer for better product at a cheaper price.
If the government can't beat the price + quality then people are going to continue to buy from suppliers in Mexico, which will keep fighting it out for this market.
Re: How a Mexican Drug Cartel Makes Its Billions
#150Why does government follow policies that make drugs so incredibly profitable?