The Los Angeles Times has been running a series of articles about Mexico's drug cartels and the government's (so far ineffective) war against drugs.
Past articles have included the gruesome tale of drug boss dissolving the bodies of his enemies in vats of lye and the tale of a legendary kingpin who picks up the tab of everyone dining at the restaurant he happens to eat in.
In the latest article of the series, Tracy Wilkinson writes about Yudit del Rincon, an anti-drug crusader and state legislator from Sinaloa, who had a brilliant idea:
Yudit del Rincon, a 44-year-old lawmaker, went before the state legislature this year with a proposition: Let's require lawmakers to take drug tests to prove they are clean.
Her colleagues greeted the idea with applause. Then she sprang a surprise on them: Two lab technicians waited in the audience to administer drug tests to every state lawmaker. We should set the example, she said.
They nearly trampled one another in the stampede to the door, Del Rincon recalled.
(Photo: Don Bartletti/LA Times)
How to get rid of the market for ILLEGAL drugs? Legalize them! If Mexican drug lords had to compete against legal US pot growers and coke refiners, their profits would collapse. Its the massive money from the black market that fuels this violence.
Yes, let's just get people to stop using drugs. How, how brilliant! If only someone had told governments that years ago, the whole war on (some) drugs could have been won by now.
@ Justin and Gorf
I'm unaware of the last time there was a war over who got to distribute Bud Light in the supermarkets. HollywoodBob is right, take away the obscenely high profits and you will get truly legitimate businessmen.
If you legalize drugs and simply let "the government" of Mexico traffic them to the US, do you honestly think the Mexican drug lords will simply say OK well I guess we'll pack up and become mailmen. Instead, you will have the exact same situation, but now they will be on the side of the law.
The mafia in the US did not disappear once prohibition was repealed. They just found new ways to make money.
Yeah, right. They will vanish and drug lords will become bakers or liquor store clerks. Even if I go for some sort of legalisation, it's too simplistic to suppose that a business so powerful will just go away. Either they will become very honest and legal drug vendors, or they will drive honest and legal drug vendors (if there could be such a thing) out of business.
All the more reason to legalize drugs and get them off the black market. The drug cartels will go away when there's no money to be made.