CNN: Drug Violence Continues to Escalate in Mexico in 2010; 2011 Expected Worse

[nuke]

Mexico drug war a nightmare scenario
By David Frum, CNN Contributor
January 3, 2011 8:07 a.m. EST

Washington (CNN) -- The lesson of the past few years: Watch out for things that can go massively wrong. What could go massively wrong in 2011?
Let's start next door, with Mexico.

In the northern city of Santiago, the mayor's body was found with the eyes gouged out. In the picturesque town of Cuernavaca, four decapitated men were hanged from a bridge along a heavily traveled highway. And in Ciudad Juárez this week, two university students were hunted through a maze of streets and killed with bullets to the head, their bodies set on fire."
An estimated 13,000 people met a violent death in Mexico in 2010, compared with 9,600 in 2009. Altogether, perhaps 26,000 people have died violently since the acceleration of the drug war in 2006.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/01/03/frum.mexico.risk/index.html?hpt=T2

 

[DavisK4high247]

From what I hear more like 28,000+ have died since Calderon's stupid drug/anti cartel , US backed war on drugs..
Portugual in the lasy year or two decriminalized all drugs, heroin,cocaine etc.. they went from havign an estimated 1 out of 100 adults using heroin a few years ago to now with no criminal charhes for using drugs or selling them (maybe dunno the extent of the laws) to a lower than ever number of teenagers and young people doing drugs than before.

Many of these teens have seen the heroin addcition and other drug addcition and choose to ot use drugs,including weed and alcohol.Of course they say that it would never work in America like that,but I say the current "war on Drugs " is a monumental failure, with over a Trillion dollars wasted on the DEA budget alone since it's existance in the early 1970's.

Countless billions and billions spent by state,local,other feds to fight a losing war against a popultion that makes their own choices about what to ingest or not ingest into their body.

 

[melange]

did not see this coming

/sarcasm

 

[melange]

I'm not saying this would help at all, but an occupation of Mexico would be more beneficial to the U.S. than Afghanistan at this point


let it be known that I have always been for drug legalization as a strategy

 

[slimvictor]

from the same article:

Could Mexico collapse into outright anarchy? It's a real fear, although thus far the Mexican state has demonstrated impressive strength in its transition to imperfect democracy.

To help Mexico in its struggle against the gangs, some suggest legalizing drugs in the United States. Legalization would transform drugs into a lawful business and transform the drug gangs into more or less normal corporations. Possibly that's true.

At the same time, legalization would almost certainly increase drug consumption in the United States by huge amounts. It's a solution even more socially costly than the problem.

Perhaps a less dramatic solution would be to force American drug users to confront the cost to others of their bad habit.

People arrested for the first time or with small amounts of drugs are often released with a warning or a few hours of community service. Perhaps that community service should take the form of burial duty at a funeral after a birthday party in Ciudad Juarez.

"bad habit"?
What about alcohol users, or tobacco users, or caffeine users?
Are those also bad habits?
The only reason that cannabis use is a "bad habit" to you, ignorant writer, is because it is illegal.

And, from all the available evidence in other countries worldwide, legalization DOES NOT increase drug use much, if at all. It might even lower drug use. Look at Portugal and Holland, instead of continually looking up your own a$$.

Stupidity like this gets my hair up

 

[Budisti]

I think as long as US doesnt legalize ALL drugs Mexico will be like this, most of the officials are corrupted by the cartels and as long as the money keeps flowing in nothing will change.

Altogether, perhaps 26,000 people have died violently since the acceleration of the drug war in 2006.

how about since the mid 90`s?

 

[qwe]

I'm not saying this would help at all, but an occupation of Mexico would be more beneficial to the U.S. than Afghanistan at this point


let it be known that I have always been for drug legalization as a strategy

we're already funding them and sending personnel. the funds get used for other purposes and the personnel become corrupted. i don't see how it would would be any different if we "invaded" them.

 

[severely etarded]

I've been watching the news, the current situation in Mexico causing all the violence along the Rio Grande is caused by Los Zetas Laredo-based drug cartel's apparent dominance in the industry, illustrated by the recent union of all other cartels in order to combat them. It looks like the problem is that the Mexican military is backing los Zetas cartel, and now all other cartels are fighting them. It's ironic because they were trained here almost two decades ago. The entire war on drugs smells like a big fraud if you ask me. It just further builds off of the CIA drug trafficking issues in the past.

 

[ATLL765]

Gotta love it when you see the direct result of the "war on drugs" being the insane bloodshed in Mexico and then the alternative of legalizing like in Portugal directly resulting in less drug use and then having the gov't choosing the former instead of the latter.

It's like they go hmmm, bloodshed and huge amounts of people incarcerated or less drug use, incarceration and peace in the land. They of course pick bloodshed because that's where the money is. God damn this place. I wish I could move to Portugal, but I hear the dope there is not quite what I get here in NJ, so.....