The problem with your proposal today is that even if the drug demand went to zero there would still be a huge network of organized crime just across the border but now with no income source. What would you say the fallout of that would be. Do you really think that the Zetas and MS13 would just say Oh well I guess it is back to the factory? I think there would be what you would definitely call a criminal insurgency.
We should definitely be dealing with these sorts of organizations supplying drugs with law enforcement and possibly even military means for those across the border. But if the real bad guys are locked up and we have a nation of emotionally healthy individuals, they will have lost the vast majority of their power and influence. Right now, it would be simply playing whack-a-mole, or plugging holes in the dyke.Originally Posted by JM2008
"The status quo is not sustainable. All of DoD needs to be placed in a large bag and thoroughly shaken. Bureaucracy and micromanagement kill."
-- Ken White
"With a plan this complex, nothing can go wrong." -- Schmedlap
"We are unlikely to usefully replicate the insights those unencumbered by a military staff college education might actually have." -- William F. Owen
Let’s be clear: this will do little to stop the flow of drugs into the United States. It might reduce the violence derived from the narco-trade in Mexico, which is a noble enough goal. There is no good scenario here. The least bad scenario is that it allows for one cartel to consolidate its position and stop the blood flow.
True, there would still be a network of organized crime. But they would be making only a fraction of the profits they once were.
That means less money to bribe and corrupt governments. Less money for small arms & infantry support weapons, and advanced communications equipment. No more jet aircraft, offshore hedge funds, or high price law firms.
It makes it a lot easier to fight organized crime.
How about NOT repeating it the second time as tragedy+farce?
Prohibition fails catastrophically, so we do it again? America sometimes is one big republican caucus.
There is mountains of data demonstrating that alcohol is a more dangerous substance than the ones which are generating the machine gun fire in Mexico. Treating all these substances the same - largely legal and taxed - would make Mexico safer and the United States saner.
Therapy to anybody who can't recognize this astonishingly obvious truth.
We definitely have to take a major step that goes after US Demand for illegal drugs in some smart new way. Moral or law enforcement band aids are nice, expensive, and inadequate.
In working the STOP program in Portland I spent a lot of time with drug users. Most aren't really "addicts" (but that title sure makes just one more convenient excuse to rationalize their destructive behavior) , they just like it and see no reason to stop (just yet). Few ride these problems all the way into the ground, but most all rationalize away all of the incremental negative impacts on their health, their finances, their work, their relationships with friends and family, etc. They sure as hell don't worry about how their small purchases impact the stability of Mexico.
My approach is mix or a two "Unacceptable" approaches. One is too liberal, and the other is too conservative. Neither works on its own, but I think together they would take tremendous pressure off of Mexico's government as well as our own tax payers and law enforcement/corrections communities
Too Liberal: Legalize all drugs. Remove the illegal market. Even pure poison like Meth. Put a warning label from hell that truly describes how that #### will kill you in a matter of months, with a mandatory counseling with current and former users before you get your prescription to buy the legal, taxed, safe as possible product.
Too Conservative: Create a list of jobs and professions that are deemed as too important to the public welfare to be held by drug users and require no drug use with mandatory testing as a condition of employment. Cab drivers to Doctors and a whole lot in between. Perhaps a three strikes for some drugs, one strike for others; but in the end one is simply fired and banned from holding any of the listed jobs until going through a year-long program of rehab, treatment, drug tests, counseling, etc. Upon successful completion one could get their ticket back to the banned list; but perhaps some professional licensees would take more or would not be eligible for redemption (surgeon, airline pilot, etc).
Some principles/concepts at work in my thinking on this is:
1. Never create a rule one is either unable or unwilling to enforce.
2. To effectively impact any supply and demand situation one has to focus on demand.
3. Coupling any high demand situation with illegality will breed organized crime and violence.
4. U.S. politicians lack the moral courage (as a whole) to take on the tough issues they know they must tackle if it will affect them personally, or their party. A bill equally offensive and acceptable to both parties allows them to share the blame and credit equally across the aisle.
5. Never create a punishment system that punishes the taxpayer as much as it does your target audience.
6. Separation of church and state. We argue morality as the reason for not addressing a problem that creates so many greater moral problems in its current uncontrolled, illegal status. Don't be a hypocrite and hide behind the church to avoid making smart, hard decisions.
7. Put the cost and consequences upon the party that benefits most. You want to use drugs? That's your call, but you won't have a very good job, and the tax revenues from your purchases will fund the programs that will help you and regulate your usage as well.
As to any immediate relief to Mexico? Just announcing that we are going to finally take our role in their problem serious would provide a major morale boost to the good guys (and also put the bad guys on notice that things are getting ready to change). Otherwise, I would approach it much as we do our operations in the Philippines (except with better funding than we've ever given that neglected theater) in terms of ISR and intel support, training, etc. Sending thousands of Americans to Mexico to hunt for senior leadership of drug cartels formed to fill American demand would be an entirely foreseeable disaster. Beside, even more than in insurgency and terrorist operations, new leadership will always emerge to take those top of the heap big money jobs.
Last edited by Bob's World; 01-24-2011 at 12:10 PM.
Robert C. Jones
Intellectus Supra Scientia
(Understanding is more important than Knowledge)
"The modern COIN mindset is when one arrogantly goes to some foreign land and attempts to make those who live there a lesser version of one's self. The FID mindset is when one humbly goes to some foreign land and seeks first to understand, and then to help in some small way for those who live there to be the best version of their own self." Colonel Robert C. Jones, US Army Special Forces (Retired)
The Smugglers Blues
Smugglers Blues by Glenn Frey...... read the comment by a former South American Police Detective.
Therse's trouble on the streets tonight,
I can feel it in my bones.
I had a premonition,
That he should not go alone.
I knew the gun was loaded,
But I didn't think he'd kill.
Everything exploded,
And the blood began to spill.
So baby, here's your ticket,
Put the suitcase in your hand.
Here's a little money now,
Do it just the way we planned.
You be cool for twenty hours
And I'll pay you twenty grand.
I'm sorry it went down like this,
And someone had to lose,
It's the nature of the business,
It's the smuggler's blues.
Smuggler's Blues
The sailors and pilots,
The soldiers and the law,
The pay offs and the rip offs,
And the things nobody saw.
No matter if it's heroin, cocaine, or hash,
You've got to carry weapons
Cause you always carry cash.
There's lots of shady characters,
Lots of dirty deals.
Ev'ry name's an alias
In case somebody squeals.
It's the lure of easy money,
It's gotta very strong appeal.
Perhaps you'd understand it better
Standin' in my shoes,
It's the ultimate enticement,
It's the smuggler's blues,
Smuggler's blues.
See it in the headlines,
You hear it ev'ry day.
They say they're gonna stop it,
But it doesn't go away.
They move it through Miami, sell it in L.A.,
They hide it up in Telluride,
I mean it's here to stay.
It's propping up the governments in Colombia and Peru,
You ask any D.E.A. man,
He'll say There's nothin' we can do,
From the office of the President,
Right down to me and you, me and you.
It's a losing proposition,
But one you can't refuse.
It's the politics of contraband,
It's the smuggler's blues,
Smuggler's blues.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
State of Affairs | Reviewer: Gino Suarez | 11/22/10
I can totally relate to this song from every angle and words. A former south american police detective. When this song first came out in the mid-80s I enjoyed its tune and lyrics as well as the Miami Vice show - mainly because of the irony of it all. It's all True. Reality is stranger than fiction. It's a classic ! unfortunately things have not changed since that time...!
Or Democratic caucus.
To wit
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...030900832.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/06/business/06smoke.html
If we legalize pot (one of the cartels biggest cash crops), how does a certain party north of the border reconcile that with their crusade against tobacco????
Seriously.
A scrimmage in a Border Station
A canter down some dark defile
Two thousand pounds of education
Drops to a ten-rupee jezail
http://i.imgur.com/IPT1uLH.jpg
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