Mexico supreme court rules ban on marijuana use unconstitutional • Hacker News Board

Re: Mexico supreme court rules ban on marijuana use unconstitutional

#141

Post by Amezarak » Fri, Nov 06, 2015, 1:12 AM UTC

unprepare wrote: post #118

Amezarak wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Do they not understand that prohibition benefits the cartels and funds their violence? Maybe they understand that argument, but disagree with it. I personally think it rather unlikely that legalization will lead to the dissolution of the cartels. In fact my first (paranoid, almost certainly wrong) thought was that the cartels had some sway with the Mexican Supreme Court. Most of the time the people who disagree wit…

Why would the cartels want to see Marijuana legalized in mexico?

Cartels are practically part of the government. Top level officials throughout the Mexican government have been identified as cartel members, from law enforcement to members of Congress. Hundreds of thousands of Mexican soldiers defected to the cartels.

The 'war' in Mexico is mostly cartel vs cartel, not unaligned government vs cartel.

So what do they have to lose? That means possible more consumption and possibly less pressure from the non-corrupt portions of the government and/or less legal power for one cartel to wield against another. (They'll have to stick with charges for the rampant human trafficking and slavery by the cartels.)

The idea that the cartels will just dissolve away upon the emergence of legal marijuana and a subsequent Free Market Flowering of the marijuana industry just seems hopelessly naive. Yes, the mafia was, perhaps, not happy about de-Prohibition. But guess what: the American mafia and is still responsible for the majority of organized crime in its area of influence. [1] The legalization of alcohol did not stop the mafia. And the cartels are far more ingrained in Mexican society than the mafia ever was in America. Even assuming someone unaffiliated with a cartel starts growing and selling, and the cartels don't just kill him, they would certainly run protection rackets.

[1] http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB100014240527487041154045760963...

Re: Mexico supreme court rules ban on marijuana use unconstitutional

#142

Post by IIAOPSW » Fri, Nov 06, 2015, 1:15 AM UTC

harryh wrote: post #124

dragonwriter wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Article I, Section 9, cl. 1 (which was among the provisions explicitly shielded from Amendment prior to 1808 by Article V.)

Also Article I, Section 2, Paragraph 3 (the 3/5ths clause).

"Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons. The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct. The Number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty Thousand, but each State shall have at Least one Representative; and until such enumeration shall be made, the State of New Hampshire shall be entitled to chuse three, Massachusetts eight, Rhode-Island and Providence Plantations one, Connecticut five, New-York six, New Jersey four, Pennsylvania eight, Delaware one, Maryland six, Virginia ten, North Carolina five, South Carolina five, and Georgia three."

or to put it in terms that this forum would appreciate

  representatives = {NH:3, MA:8, RI:1 CN:5, NY:6, NJ:4, PA:8, DL:1, ML:6, VA:10, NC:5, SC:5, GA:3}

  def census(state): #call this in 3 years, and again in every 10 years
     result = 0
     for i in state.persons:
        if i.free or i.bound_to_service:
           result += 1
        elif not(i.indian and not i.taxed):
           result += 0 #included for clarity
        else:
           result += 3/5
     return max(int(result / 30000),1)

Note the 3/5th compromise is reached by way of "no other category applies" rather than an explicit "slavery" condition. Make of that what you will. Unrelated note: imagine if all law were written as programming.

Re: Mexico supreme court rules ban on marijuana use unconstitutional

#143

Post by unprepare » Fri, Nov 06, 2015, 12:55 PM UTC

Amezarak wrote: post #141

unprepare wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would the cartels want to see Marijuana legalized in mexico?

Cartels are practically part of the government. Top level officials throughout the Mexican government have been identified as cartel members, from law enforcement to members of Congress. Hundreds of thousands of Mexican soldiers defected to the cartels. The 'war' in Mexico is mostly cartel vs cartel, not unaligned government vs cartel. So what do they have to lose? That means possible more consumption and possibly le…

> less legal power for one cartel to wield against another

I did not consider this, i think that makes a lot of sense.