Quote Originally Posted by Dayuhan View Post
We don’t do this because it makes sense: it doesn’t. We don’t do this because it works: it doesn’t. We do it because in the drug world demand is from light-skinned economically integrated individuals, and supply is from dark-skinned economically marginal individuals. On the wide scale many of the suppliers are not American. We as a society are much more comfortable with the imposition of coercive force on dark-skinned economically marginal individuals, especially when they aren’t American.
That is a very interesting observation. I wonder if you see the same thing in enforcement within the United States, not so much race based though, but socio-economic class based. You don't often read about a police force taking down the primary retail supplier to Hollywood stars or to the faculty of the University of the Elite.

If we really want to reform, you are right about there being only two options, hard and soft. I would change the form of the hard option as it applies to use and possession. American culture being what it is penalties similar to those for possession would be uncertain because of all the legal wrangling involved with getting a conviction, especially if middle and upper class people were the targets. The courts would be tied into knots.

If the hard option penalties for possession were less severe but more certain it would be better. Let us say an officer catches a fine young fellow from a good family with a marijuana cigarette, at 0200 on a Saturday morn. He would transport the fellow to a special court immediately. Upon conviction the fine young fellow would immediately begin serving a 1 week sentence at the county jail, no exceptions for big business deals or babysitters. That would severely complicate the fine young fellows life providing a deterrent but would not be so severe as to hit the sympathy button of the wider community making it more certain.

That would be the general idea anyway. I don't know the legal in and outs needed to make that kind of thing happen. Maybe it would be impossible, but if it could be done, I think it would work.

Quote Originally Posted by Dayuhan View Post
Neither of these options are appealing. The politics would be miserable in either case. There would be major challenges and penalties in either case. Even worse, the challenges and penalties would land on us, instead of on our neighbors to the south, where the current approach puts them.
This is why it probably won't happen. The current arrangement works great for us. We get to feel smug about our moral stance, our upper classes get their high, the drug warriors have their adventures subsidized and somebody else gets to pay the real price. Politically we want it both ways and that is what we have now.

The thing that would really force the matter would be if the Mexicans legalized drug importing and exporting and just collected customs duties in and out of their country. That won't happen either but it would be interesting if it did.