if we legalized the cultivation of weed for personal consumption in the US then people wouldnt have to buy that cheep mexican weed anymore. Not sure what to do about the Coke other than legalize it and regulate.
We are far larger and have not even come close to stopping the drug lords in our country. Or was my sarcasm meter set too low?
I am not talking about getting rid of drug operations. The drug lords do not the kind of control over US as they do in Mexico.
I think it has to do with economic forces as well. When you have more legitimate money generated by stronger economics you can counter balance and keep down the illigitimate money. If you have weak economics, then the illigitimate money can overwhelm the ligitimate money making economy.
I blame the Miami vice squad. They stopped drug trafficking in the Bahamas and Florida, and now have forced Central/South America drug cartels to smuggle their drugs using Mexico. Spoiler Spoiler Spoiler Spoiler Oh, ****
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With all due respect, DD, that's just a god-awful idea. You would annex one country (Canada) that is doing better than we are economically, having the 10th largest economy in the world. Think about that. Tiny Canada, population wise, has the world's tenth largest economy. They are prosperous. They already have a lot of the progressive social entities that we are still attempting to obtain. They don't want to be a part of the States, and if you think I'm talking out of my hat, one of my best friends has lived in Canada for well over 30 years and is now a Canadian citizen. I know a lot of Canadians. Mexico? Are you kidding me? You would seriously be in favor of annexing a failed state, who's great mass of people are scraping by, trying to make a living, and coming to the States in hordes illegally to find work. A state that is damn near in open anarchy in large stretches of the country. The idea is insane. Now, I don't think you are insane, DD, just the idea, which I've heard enough at various times to leave me rather disgusted at how little thought people put into stuff like this. We have plenty of problems of our own. We don't need to take over a country that doesn't want us, or take over a country that would simply export its living nightmare to our own. I'll pass.
That's easy to say in the abstract but very very difficult to impose practially. For example how many of us speed or jaywalk? We know those are illegal yet do them anyway frequently. To have people respect the rule of law it has to start top down by showing a society that at all levels of the law is respected. You also have to be able to adequately enforce the law. I have a hard time saying the average Mexican should follow the rule of law when their leaders aren't and the law is easily circumvented or laxly and inconsistently enforced.
Removing prohibition from the equation will go a long ways towards reducing the corruption in both Mexico and America.