Monday, March 16, 2009

Knock Yourself Out Who ever thought that SSDP would be using a Barry McCaffrey quote as a recruitment slogan? 9:33:21 PM | drug policy | Related  | permalink | comment []

Legalization as a weapon Linda Valdez has an fascinating OpEd in today's Arizona Republic: Stem the violence, make marijuana legal Imagine you had a really smart bomb - a genius bomb - that could blow up the leaders of every drug cartel in Mexico. By the time the smoke cleared, a new pusher would be sitting in every cartel's big chair and the distribution networks would continue satisfying the demand of every junkie and recreational-drug user in America. [...] Now, imagine a different weapon. Consider the impact of eliminating the most profitable product the cartels sell. All we have to do is legalize marijuana. It's a very good piece and she uses all the drug warriors' arguments against them by simply setting up her unimpeachable premise and then quoting their usual stuff. I love this line, of course: You'd think a country built on capitalism would understand basic laws of supply and demand. Instead, a failed and irrational national policy blunders forward, costing billions, incarcerating large numbers of people and enriching ruthless crime syndicates. Update: Also see Debra J. Saunders at Townhall: The Drug War Body Count. Good article, but the check out some of the ignorant commenters: Doug writes: It is an understatement to say that you are stupid if you believe that prohibition causes this type of violence. The people who control this industry are not moral people. They will not simply roll over and be good little sunday school students simply because you tell them it is now legal. They will conduct their business with the same disrespect for the law, and will laugh at your "regulators" the same way they shoot your peace officers. Naive band of idiots. Lolo1 says: Doug: Well said! Lolo1 also says: Amazing! I see people here honestly think that drug pushers are going to suddenly come out of the shadows and pay taxes and go legitimate. Wanna buy a bridge? Um, no, Lolo and Doug. Enterprising Americans will leap at the chance to make money by selling drugs legally and yes, even happily pay taxes. And then anybody who wants to sell drug on the black market will become mostly irrelevant, forced to search for new income sources. It's really not rocket science, folks. 6:06:11 PM | drug policy | Related  | permalink | comment []

John Walters' new audience - the Weekly Standard Who else would actually believe this crap? On the key issue of illegal drugs--the widely recognized source of criminal power in Mexico--the Obama administration is lurching dangerously in reverse. In his first statement on drug policy, Attorney General Eric Holder suggested he may no longer enforce federal law against trafficking marijuana if the traffickers call their marijuana medical. Both U.S. and Mexican officials at all levels know that medical marijuana is an utter fraud used to undermine drug enforcement in the United States. Mexican officials also know (as does the Justice Department) that much of the marijuana sold in the "dispensaries" of California funds the mafias of Mexico. Marijuana sales are the single largest source of drug profits for these criminals--on top of funds from kidnapping, protection rackets, alien smuggling, and car theft. Not enforcing our marijuana laws makes these terrorists stronger. Pretending to take legalization seriously makes them stronger still. What do we think the brave officers risking their lives in Mexico feel when our attorney general sounds like he is going to do less to help? Is it too much to expect him to make clear that enforcing our marijuana laws reduces addiction here and saves lives in Mexico? John Walters has got a lot of experience outright lying, using creative ways to combine totally unrelated things to imply a relationship, and just blatantly attempting to claim that outcomes of prohibition are really outcomes of legalization. But this is a high point even for him. Rarely do you see such a jam-packed couple of paragraphs -- full of fear-mongering, lies, and multiple types of fallacies perfectly demonstrated. 8:34:16 AM | drug policy | Related  | permalink | comment []