More signs we're losing drug war

[neversickanymore]

More signs we're losing drug war
JULY 25, 2014

SAN ANTONIO — The signs abound that the war on drugs has been reeling in more than the usual suspects, and that the battle requires some rethinking.

In Hidalgo County, nine former lawmen were recently sentenced on federal drug charges, much of this involving a police drug unit ripping off drugs and escorting cars carrying drugs. The former Hidalgo County Sheriff was just sentenced to five years for taking money from a drug trafficker.

In Balcones Heights, investigators have been trying to piece together the facts in the slaying of police officer Julian Pesina. Among the angles they are pursuing is the possibility he was affiliated with the Texas Mexican Mafia. The Balcones Heights police chief was recently removed, partly for failing to heed warnings that Pesina had this involvement. Investigators also are looking into the possibility that such recruitment isn't an isolated event, according to a recent Express-News article recently by Guillermo Contreras and Drew Joseph.

Reporting in 2013 revealed that the FBI believed the Mexican drug cartel, Los Zetas, had a deal with the Texas gang to collect debts, execute hits and traffic drugs in and through Laredo.

The possibility of even a single corrupt cop is troubling — broad recruitment by a gang affiliated with any of the powerful and rich Mexican cartels is doubly so.

Most Texas police officers are honest. But the amount of money involved in the drug trade provides an explosive variable, something Border Patrol watchdogs have long known.

A Government Accountability Office report last year revealed that 144 officers and agents with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) had been arrested or indicted on corruption charges in the previous seven years on charges of smuggling undocumented immigrants and drugs and bribery.

The vast amount of money available to corrupt law enforcement is directly attributable to Americans' insatiable appetite for the product.

Local, state and federal authorities should be vigilant against such infiltration.

But we wonder, given the boodles of cash available, whether this also won't be a variation of the well-known exercise in this drug war of whack-a-mole.

This influx of children from Central America is fueled, in part, by drug cartel-influenced violence in their countries. One way to curtail the amount of money available is to take away the gangs' profit motive; treating drug abuse more as a public health issue, with the treatment resources to match.

http://www.mysanantonio.com/opinion/editorials/article/More-signs-we-re-losing-drug-war-5647396.php

 

[TheLostBoys]

The war was lost before it began.........

 

[szuko000]

Also the stoners managed to detonate 2 legeslation bombs and capture both Colorado and Washington state. their economy has been effected totally, its so out of control banks cant fit all the money and have to turn it away! there are rumors or more bombings in the future. Now they are using a major media outlet to circulate their propaganda it's only a matter of time until the people all join them.

But seriously if the law hasn't accomplished what it set out to do by now it needs to be reworked at least.

 

[ro4eva]

It boggles my mind just how clueless some people are about the negative indirect effects of this war on a minority group who prefer an intoxicant that's been vilified for decades by Uncle Sam instead of the usual crap - booze and tobacco/nicotine products.

Is it really so hard to put two and two together?

There are so many refugees near the US-Mexico border because of the drug cartel-related violence which has gripped Mexico and many other Central American nations.

They are traumatized and terrified. They don't feel safe anymore in their native lands. They see no other option but to attempt to get into the US because of all the bloodshed.

Make no mistake - the war on drugs is responsible for the mass migration, not Obama's passiveness.

I'm not a big fan of the current POTUS, but he is not to blame for this. And I wish more individuals would wake up already and smell the coffee, and stop living in denial that it's not due to violence and bloodshed due to the demand of Scheduled substances (mostly CI and CII).

The cartels could be dealt a critical, crippling blow if governments around the world (and especially in America) were to regulate/tax/sell all the popular Schedule I drugs. This is their main source of money. It is what keeps them from imploding whenever a huge shipment is seized.

Yes, organized crime will likely always be around, trying to exploit pretty much anything for easy money. The Mexican cartels would still be forcing women into the sex trade. And they would still be kidnapping people for ransom. However, without their biggest money maker by far (drug trafficking), I'm willing to wager that they'd have an awfully difficult time continuing to function in the long term.

The problem is that they can afford to lose a huge shipment here and there. They can afford to lose low-level dealers every day by the dozens. And that's because of the enormous amount of money being made from the astronomical demand for controlled substances in the US.

Take that away from them however, and it would deal a blow from which they would never recover. In other words, they would never rise up again to be as profitable as before - even with what they have left to work with, it wouldn't be enough to compensate.

Stop waiting for Americans to stop using illicit substances - it will NEVER happen. Start taking over the supply portion of the demand and use unbiased, scientifically accurate facts as well as harm reduction practicies as educational material in order to try to get users to eventually stop, or, in order to minimize the risk involved. And don't let your moral compass affect drug policy reform. Alcohol and tobacco have been available for centuries in America, and they're not exactly the safest substances to use as intoxicants - so get over it already.

I don't know what these idiots in Washington D.C. are waiting for, but every day that passes means that the cartels become richer, which places even greater strain on law enforcement. Not that the cops aren't already overwhelmed, but it'll only continue to get worse and worse for everyone if the war on drugs does not end soon.

This is a serious crisis which needs to be resolved in a radically different manner compared to previous strategies of abstinence and criminality. Or, they can continue to twiddle their thumbs while the refugees continue to pile up at the border, and the cartels become more bold in their attempts to peddle their products to every state in America.

 

[JackARoe]

Stop waiting for Americans to stop using illicit substances - it will NEVER happen. Start taking over the supply portion of the demand and use unbiased, scientifically accurate facts as well as harm reduction practicies as educational material in order to try to get users to eventually stop, or, in order to minimize the risk involved. And don't let your moral compass affect drug policy reform. Alcohol and tobacco have been available for centuries in America, and they're not exactly the safest substances to use as intoxicants - so get over it already.

Nice post ro4eva. You nailed it. And I agree, how hard is it to put two and two together for an intelligent planet? Sheeesh.