So, what’s the big deal? As with alcohol during prohibition and marijuana today, these are victimless crimes, right? As quoted in the previous post, the Cartel’s are mutating. One branch supports or profits another.1
Supply and Demand
Arresting and jailing the demand for drug use and drug related crimes such as robbery, theft, assault, battery, rape, and murder (to name a few of the victimless crimes) has not been a successful solution. Our prisons are as bloated as the average citizen’s waistline. Law Enforcement and Justice have given up in many parts of our nation and are turning a blind eye to crime or refusing to prosecute.
Well, then cut off the supply. A brief look at history shows that Prohibition was discarded because it was obvious that it did not deter alcohol consumption. The USA has spent bunch of gazillions trying to combat illicit drug use in the USA. It has been estimated that the 2021 bill will be $1 trillion. We have fought drug cartels in their own country, we have sprayed poppy fields in Afghanistan, we have attempted to interdict drug transportation on all the worlds oceans and seas and we have failed in every attempt. We might not have failed in the little battles but the offenders have succeeded in thwarting our efforts using creativity and persistence.2
So, what to do?
Not long ago, there was a push to repeal laws that required the use of helmets to ride a motorcycle. The No-Helmeters said it was their personal right to be free to choose whether to wear or not. They said they accepted the risks of injury, should an accident occur.
The Helmeters demanded helmet use because of the extreme expense thrust upon society to care for the head injuries of a, now, non-productive citizen-victim.
Then along came the Don’t-Cares. “Let’em die,” they said. Darwin’s evolution as a solution.
One approach to the drug problem is, Let’em die. Legalize all drug use and let the users assume the risk of their choice. The problem I, and others, see with this approach is that it is not a victimless crime turned not criminal. There will be a fair number of people that would not otherwise use drugs (when they were illegal) that now will use drugs and become socially bankrupt. There will be an increase in accidental injury/death to many non-users. There will be a paradigm shift within existing crime cartels to find another use of their infrastructure, probably illegal. It is already being seen that former illegal drug producers are still producing, but blending in with legal entities to distribute their unsanctioned product. There will be a steady corruption to society/culture from which we will not recover.
To me, legalizing all drugs compounds a problem we see, recognize and ignore, overwhelmingly, in this country. We know of the bad side of alcohol consumption. We have passed a few laws to curb the bad effects (DUI, public drunkenness, drinking at work, under age drinking) but have essentially thrown up our hands in defeat when it comes to alcohol. Now, let’s add heroine, cocaine, methamphetamine, benzodiazepines, marijuana, barbiturates, psychedelics and a cornucopia of designer drugs both current and the future to our bloviated collection of laws.
No, we’ve got enough laws as it is.
I, personally, would like to see a more positive solution to the drug problem.
Then I stumbled across this comedian. Robert Mack.3
I really wish you would go to the YouTube site and watch this because he presents the material much better than I. But, for those lazy bums out there, his plan is to move the USA’s southern border south to the Panama Canal. Its only 50 miles long, and certainly much easier to control than our 1,954 mile border. He reasons that the then entire population between the current southern USA border and the Panama Canal would not want to come north because they’d already be in the USA. Problem solved.
Most of the middle east views the USA as The Great Satan and wants to destroy us. Mexico views us as The Big Sugar-Daddy and wants to suck us dry. One an invasive infection like flesh eating bacteria, one a parasite like a giant tape worm.
Since establishing the current USA borders in 1848, the USA has not fought any wars of acquisition. We have fought to spread the concept of democracy but not land acquisition. We have fought to free people of tyranny and despotism. So Robert Mac’s plan to end illegal immigration just seems anti-American.
But, wait. These people want to come to America, so instead we take America to them.
Unfortunately, the results of America’s attempts to spread democracy have yielded some pretty big failures. European countries that dug their collective heels into communism and socialism, South East Asian despotism, Cuban isolationism. There are countries that have, of their own motivation, come around to the idea of democracy, and it seems that democracy (in one form or another) prevails in world countries.4
But see, Mexico is a constitutional republic (an electoral democracy according to Mr. Roser) similar to the USA (which is slightly more free as a liberal democracy). It has a thriving economic potential. It has vast rich resources that are yet undeveloped, or at best poorly developed. It has a rich illegal pharmaceutical empire yet untapped by taxing authorities. It is the southern most country in North America. It’s southern border is 541 miles and encompasses 3 rivers. Longer than the Panama Canal, but much closer and the 3 rivers help lessen the distance needing to be heavily guarded.
So, now that we have pulled out of Afghanistan…
From your grumpy Uncle Dave. Isn’t it ironic how comedy has a bite of truth to it?
See also by Weary:
a. Mexico 1, Law & Order
b. Mexico, El Segundo. Completely Different But Just The Same
- First drugs, then oil, now Mexican cartels turn to human trafficking. “A lot of criminal groups are mutating,” says Santigo Nieto, head of Mexico’s financial intelligence unit. Sex trafficking may the country’s third-largest criminal activity. Reuters. April 29, 2020. Retrieved 1/4/2022 from https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/first-drugs-then-oil-now-mexican-cartels-turn-human-trafficking-n1195551
- War on drugs. Wikipedia contributors. 1/8/2022. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 1/11/2022, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=War_on_drugs&oldid=1064377571
- Solving The Immigration Problem Is THIS Simple, Robert Mac. [Video] YouTube.com 5/26/2020. Retrieved 1/11/2022 from YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HrqW4s1D7Y
- Democracy. Max Roser. 2013. OurWorldInData.org. Retrieved 1/11/2022 from https://ourworldindata.org/democracy