Tracy Wilkinson, Los Angeles Times, November 21, 2008
{snip}
Sinaloa, a fertile state on the Pacific coast, has long been at the center of Mexico’s drug trade. It has become a hub of violence since President Felipe Calderon dispatched an army of soldiers and federal police to take on some of the biggest drug lords.
The alarming level of violence—shootouts and kidnappings almost every day—has sown panic and fear among a normally resilient citizenry.
{snip}
This week, grenades were hurled at the offices of Culiacan’s largest-circulation newspaper, El Debate. Although no one was hurt, the act was widely seen as a message of intimidation.
The slain police agents (seven have been killed here in seven days) were part of a unit dedicated to cracking down on the rampant streets sales of cocaine, marijuana and other narcotics. They were ambushed a couple of blocks from their headquarters, shortly after they dropped off a suspect. Two other federal police officers with the agents were seriously injured.
After the bodies were taken away and investigators from a variety of agencies (some mistrustful of each other) did their work, a tow truck operator began the task of hauling away the agents’ vehicle, riddled by scores of high-caliber bullets, its tires flattened.
{snip}
Original article
Email
Tracy Wilkinson
at wilkinson@latimes.com .
(Posted on November 21, 2008)
Comments
The drug cartels are almost economically and numerically powerful enough to challenge the Mexican government right now. Soon they will be ready to make their move.
It’s very possible that the cartels may well be behind a coup in the near future that will gain control of our neighbor to the south. In order to carry through effectively, they will have to have control of many towns in the border states on the US side, which is why they have been heavily saturating the area with bribe money for the last twenty years, and they have confederates already in office with more being groomed to get elected with huge war chests to draw from to assure election.
When Mexico falls to the drug lords and their lackeys are installed in office, a large portion of the US along the border will be theirs also.
As the world heads into a deep recession or, more likely, a depression, the drug cartels won’t lose a nickel’s worth of business and will be the new CEO’s in America.
This continuing cycle is a rare opportunity for them to eventually control the entire North American continent.
Would legalizing all these drugs give rise to more, or fewer, problems than it would solve, for both Mexico and the U.S.?
I don’t know—any opinions?
Is there a higher rate of alcoholism now in the U.S. than there was during Prohibition? I don’t know the answer to that question either, but it seems like a good question to start with.
Legalizing drugs would solve some problems actually, provided the drugs you legalize are hard drugs such as Heroin and Cocaine, and are kept pure. Pure, hard drugs tend to solve the problem of addiction when readily available. It’s a cold turkey method, called “overdose”.
More evidence that it is better to nip the problem in the bud.
When problems are allowed to grow to very large proportions, the solutions are very difficult.
The drug cartels should have been eliminated early, now there will be much death and destruction of innocent lives whether they are allowed to exist or not.
Again we have our elected leaders to thank for the mess that has been allowed to grow to the high level of problem reported.
Legalizing drugs would solve some problems actually, provided the drugs you legalize are hard drugs such as Heroin and Cocaine, and are kept pure. Pure, hard drugs tend to solve the problem of addiction when readily available. It’s a cold turkey method, called “overdose”.
This brings to mind an incident that happened to me in my home city. The local police spoke to me once about the rising problem of heroine in town. I suggested we donate a Kg of pure heroine to the local druggies and pointed out that in a week PRESTO!! no more addict problem……. they admittedly gave me their very best dumb looks, forcing me to explain DRUGS to them, “THEM” being the narcotics units!!!!! TRUE STORY.
Again we have our elected leaders to thank for the mess that has been allowed to grow to the high level of problem reported.
Yes…..those in office are a problem. But the root of that problem is our people. They have too much freedom. Freedom to decide to be BAD people. The situation has made our democracy unsustainable. Eventually it will crumble (like it hasn’t fallen fast and far in only the last couple of years). What comes next, it would be a good idea if the slightest anti-social behavior was punished….harshly. It will take generations of our people being FORCED to be kind, giving, loving people who take care of each other….before it becomes true again.
That’s just where we are at now.
2:13 11/22 poster
I suggest you read Clockwork Orange (Anthony Burgess 1962). Being a good person can not be forced onto someone. Legalize it all and then spend 1/10 of whats spent on failed drug enforcement to address the issues that lead to drugs. If they can’t even keep drugs out of federal prisons how can you possibly think you can keep it out of your country.
As to harsher punishments, England used to hang people for the equivalent of shoplifting and it didn’t prevent crime. Think of all the people who have experimented with drugs and never became drug addicts. Do you think the country would be better by ruining lives over stupid teenage behavior?
ADM
Ever notice how so many people advocate the legalization of drugs? I would personally not give a rats if every pot head , crack, coke using, herion addict, alcoholic doper, were allowed to sniff, smoke, drink or mainline mass quantities. Assuming it would only affect them, however this is not the case. Plus how many more dopers would we have if it were legal. Just what we need a whole society of mentally impaireds. Oh! I forgot look who we just elected. Someone once said, “It takes all kinds.” The truth is it really doesn’t take them, we just have them.
10:44 11/23 poster
Clockwork Orange is a worthless piece of moronic fantasy. For most of human history, morality has been backed up by force. Anyone who stepped out of line, even modestly, found themselves banished from the community (usually a death sentence) or stoned to death. It most certainly deterred crime….by killing the criminal. In a society where everyone knows everyone else, crime is unthinkable. Those that do it, don’t survive getting caught. Only in modern times have people been able to get away with immorality.
That will change. It will change because allowing it to happen is now a literal threat to survival….in ALL modern societies. It’s very much change or die now.
Not today, maybe not in our lifetime (although I wouldn’t count on it), but our children will know this type of change. Theirs will be a totalitarian existence. And what society demands of them will be very great. Freedom will be earned back slowly and at great cost. Because giving it with no strings attached has been such an incredible disaster.
It’s inevitable.
@4:25 PM
Wow. Great point. Any books you can point us towards that helped form this pov?
