Solution to Mexico’s drug crisis? Lift prohibition.
An article in the Wall Street Journal is reporting that some advisors are saying “the U.S. should legalize marijuana, let cocaine pass through the Caribbean and take the profit motive out of the drug trade”.
Interesting points:
Forbes magazine put Mexican drug lord Joaquin “Shorty” Guzman as No. 401 on the world’s list of billionaires.
Imagine if some of that profit went towards treating drug use as a health issue?
Mexico’s deputy agriculture minister, Jeffrey Jones, told some of the country’s leading farmers that they could learn a thing or two from Mexican drug traffickers. “It’s a sector that has learned to identify markets and create the logistics to reach them,” he said. Days later, Mr. Jones was forced to resign. “He may be right,” one top Mexican official confided, “but you can’t say things like that publicly.”
It seems Prof. Nutt isn’t the only one being sacked for being rational about the drug debate.
Oh, and by the way, if you think it’s just those of us that can responsibly use drugs that are after a lift of prohibition, think again. The very same people who’ve been on the front-line of the war against drugs are saying the same thing.
Update: It seems Joaquin Guzman is also the #41 most powerful person. Would he still be the world’s most powerful person and the USA’s most wanted man if it wasn’t for prohibition?
I think the dude in the third link ought to go to somebody more accomplished for his ink, especially if he’s making big dollars out of drug prohibition.
Rich
December 26, 2009
s/third/first
Rich
December 26, 2009