[Pen-l] this is your war / this is your war on drugs

[Jim Devine <jdevine03@xxxxxxxxx>]

from Thursday's SLATE news summary:
>> The Washington Post leads with news that, on the eve of his visit to Mexico, President Obama imposed financial sanctions against three Mexican drug cartels by adding them to the list of foreign "drug kingpins." The move not only allows the government to seize the cartels' assets but also makes it easier to prosecute any American who provides support to the organizations...

>> It normally takes a year to add names to the "drug kingpins" list, but the White House accelerated the effort to include the three Mexican cartels, Sinaloa, Los Zetas, and La Familia Michoacana to send a clear message that the Obama administration supports President Felipe Calderón's efforts to fight the organizations that are responsible for much of the violence in the country. The administration is still in the process of identifying assets held by the cartels, which some say means the move is largely symbolic. Still, a Treasury official insisted that it's just as important that now any business or individual who knowingly does business with one of the cartels could face stiff penalties. In the past, the "drug kingpins" list has been used to fight Colombian drug traffickers.

>> The drug-related violence in Mexico has killed more than 10,000 people in the last couple of years, and Calderón has asked the United States to take concrete action against weapons traffickers as well as combat Americans' "insatiable demand for illegal drugs," as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton put it when she visited Mexico last month. And while Mexicans know the drug war has overshadowed everything else, they still want the Obama administration to focus on immigration reform as well as trade issues. Ultimately, they're unlikely to be satisfied by Obama's visit, which the LA [TIMES] describes as "largely symbolic." And symbolism is exactly what Mexicans don't want right now, particularly since they feel like all they got during the Bush administration were "little pats on the back," as former Mexican President Vicente Fox said. So far it seems the White House has no desire to get into a fight with the gun lobby and push to reinstate an assault weapons ban that lapsed during the Bush administration. <<

Why not simply legalize these drugs (perhaps making them prescription
medicines) while actively discouraging people in the US from using
them? that would destroy the "cartels" by taking the profit out of the
business. By intensifying the war on drugs on the supply side, it just
raises retail prices and the profits for those smugglers who succeed
in selling. It does have advantages, of course, by providing demand
for the military's services and for weapons, while kowtowing to
American puritanism.

If you must have a war on drugs, Mr. Obama, you should aim it entirely
on stuff like cocaine and meth. Pot and similarly relatively harmless
drugs should be legalized, encouraging people to use it instead of
nasty stuff like coke and meth.

is it late enough to have a drink?
-- 
Jim Devine / "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own
way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.
_______________________________________________
pen-l mailing list
pen-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l