Another battle won in the lost war.

Four Mexicans out for a leisure ride. A meeting like that must look funny from the air.

Gee officer I have a medical marijuana card for that. I'm telling you it is for my own personal use.

Sorry, but I have to laugh (or at least smile) whenever I read these articles. For every ton they CATCH, ten more tons get THROUGH. Time to grow our own and quit buying from these murderers!!

Jane... you're right. Very good article in The New Republic where they describe marijuana as "the new blood diamonds"

(weep weep) i'm just trying to find an oz) (weep weep)

wow what an accomplishment...take a expensive helicopter to hunt for a plant....how pathetic. Yay America you go! What a joke we are

And what about the 3 US citizens?

your funny Ji (G). I feel your pain

Instead of losing billions on it how making billions on it and make it legal and tax it. Watch how fast the cartels begin to lose power and money and how fast our economy begins to recover. "The land of the free" sure has a lot of stupid laws based on ignorance.

Wow, they got a ton of marijuana. Yippee. What about the other thousands of tons that regularly comes in? The facts are that to the cartels, the occasional interdiction is considered an acceptable business loss. Sometimes I think they purposely direct the DEA idiots to such an interception to focus their attention away from the "real" shipment.

Jane H and decatur greg are both equally misled in this mythical belief about how much "other tonnage" escapes interdiction. It is astonishing to me how many people blindly believe the self-serving "party dogma" distributed by the spokesmen for these various enforcement agencies. Crock after crock after crock - and no one understands or asks why these lies are relentlessly "pushed" with each newsy bust. Another of these little noticed "misspeaks" is the one about how the bust took place following a "four year investigation". Just look at the last ten times you heard of one of these long-term Sherlock jobs to find out where the guys busted actually were two or four years back in time - or, in many cases, merely how old they were. These piles of BS are thrown into the fan merely to justify mega-buck budgets that do nothing but waste and corrupt - or to glorify how lazy men's paychecks, and pensions (!!) were supposedly earned. Winning the war in Vietnam meant losing annual income for the MIC. Finding the cure for cancer meant losing the research contributions. Winning the war on drugs meant closing big budget agencies. Thus, it is better to remain engaged in "controlled losing" as long as possible. The only marijuana victims are those who are in jails for believing that 90% of those doing it "got through". How is it that no one asks why the Netherlands was not in national ruination 40 years ago? "New Blood Diamonds" (?) = the teaser.

Sad part of the story is that the money for this pot was to go south instead of staying up here to help churn our own economy. Legalize it or grow your own. What ever happened to that "Made in America" pride?

Damn, I just lost my sailboat!

Job creators will create millions of jobs, spur the economy on, generate tax revenue and eliminate thousands from incarceration - just by legalizing marijuana.

I'm sure all that pot was for a private medical use of the sailors... and a bottle of rum...

It might've helped if they didn't have 20 passengers slowing them down... They legally robbed the Mehicans LML. The turn around on a ton of free x.x is going to be very sweet for the gov.

Seems like one part of our population wants to move forward and start fixing our problems instead of pushing through a moral degeneration back to the 50's which seems to be top priority for others. Legalize the stuff and see what boost it gives the economy. Incredible amounts of money sliding under the table, mostly heading to Latin America, on a daily basis. Could fix a lot of bridges and help out over at the old folks home with some of that loot.

American Grown" Marijuana, Taxed, could mean 500 Billion dollars direct taxes in our Treasury over next five years ... $500,000,000,000 .... provide a grassroots boast to our economy spread evenly across our nation ... and end the financial incentive to drug gangs south of the border who have killed 55,000 people in the last five years alone! Stop making our young people felons for life and destroying any future opportunity for people whose only crime is a choice of what they put in their bodies .....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Ever Thought You'd Like To Join A Revolution? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You Can! ...... Join A Political Revolution, And Support The Legalization of Marijuana, and refuse to vote for any politician that won't support legalization !

Seems like a jobs program for law enforcement. How could that be bad ? Ride around in a mega million dollar helo, talk on a radio all day. Corrdinate the officers in boats to chase the criminals. Capture mexican citizen criminals which means we are now responsible for them, so we hire people to house them, feed them, look after their medical needs. Another team of gubmint employees works on deporting them. And another team gets paid to wharehouse the evidence for years and then eventually burn it. So we captured a $mil in mary jane, spent $50 million doing it. You couldn't design a better jobs program. And it's all possible because a bunch of idiots can't cope with daily family and job responsibilities so they have to be constantly tokin and or drinkin and sending their paychecks to mexico.

val t,

Ever heard of building a criminal case by working within the legal system? It takes time to gather appropriate documentation to support the case. It's not like other countries when their law enforcement are free to handle a situation either without all the legal constraints or minimum legal interference.

Another battle won in the lost war.

PBS did an excellent three part documentary on prohibition. You can substitute Marijuana for every mention of alcohol and you will quickly realize how misguided our laws are. Repeal prohibition now.

Hell they had a helicopter, two semi truck loads of equipment, 35 people (half in hazmat suits and half in riot gear), the fire department, the sheriffs department, Homeland Security, the DEA, a helicopter and an ambulance crew when they raided my 800 square foot home for a half dozen 2 foot tall plants I had in my closet. No distribution, no hard drugs, just misdemeanor cultivation and they spent nearly $100,000 dollars to raid my home, I bailed out for $300 dollars the next morning.

Rontron, perhaps we should ask why the need booze, or anti-depressants, or cigarettes, or comfort food, or soda pop, or religion, or self help books or anything else that makes them smile for a few minutes and forget the hell on earth that our system has created. If you don't know why people search for an escape from pain, both mental and physical, then you are what they are trying to escape from.

Rontron,

Ever hear this? ............... "certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

Not many pot smokers, me included, who "need" pot. We simply enjoy it as the great natural gift it is.

Just legalize it already and be done with this stupid "war on drugs" that will never, ever be over with.

alsophia theophilos ... and the Tenth

Amendment to our Constitution which reserves those powers (rights) that humans have had since the beginning of time .. and right to consume what they chose & medicate their body, was certainly one of those things ....

"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."

A good understanding of the pot issue would probably require an understanding of why the laws were passed in the first place. Think any lobbying took place? By whom and for what purpose? I doubt if one looked into it they would find everything squeaky clean.

It doesn't take much to stir up the potheads, Jeff Spicoli would be so proud!

No big loss, it's just mexican dirt weed.

If it we're legal, us americans wouldn't even waste our time with such a bunk product.

If pot were legal, it would still take 50 years to un-brainwash the police. Just look at how excited the police on COP's get when they find a gram of weed...talk about a buzz.

1,000 tons of marijuana smuggled into U.S. yesterday.

THAT is the real story. A little seized here and there is just operating costs for these guys. Just let U.S. citizens grow it and then tax it.

alsophia theophilos, the precedence for legalizing pot has historic value. FDR and the Democrats overturned and repealed the 18th amendment making alcohol legal again. Prohibition was a massive failure filled with hypocrisy and wasteful government spending. There has to be a way of legalizing, taxing and controlling pot without having a dispensary on every corner and a wild west atmosphere in any town.

When my mother passed, her wishes were to be cremated and buried in her native Canada. The funeral director told us to have that death certificate in hand when we crossed the border, and that her urn might possibly be searched. Apparently, that's a common way to smuggle cocaine into Canada.....

And no, they didn't check the urn....

Devil's Son,

Talk about wasteful govt. spending! If all these nuts are wanting to make cuts somewhere to bring the deficit down here's the place to start. Turn this huge money pit around into a money fountain, then maybe look at taking away grannies wheelchair at the nursing home. Maybe then.

They can find some other excuse to keep their hit squads employed, but it better be a good one. Or else job them out to the action spots around the globe. Want some of that shoot-em up bang bang action? Wanna be a real killer? Then go out there and join the big boys instead of kicking in hippie Joe's door.

And the futures price on Wallstreet for Weed will jump $5 a baggie when the traders open this morning. Just like gas prices, any lame excuse to screw someone for profit.

Only in our Bizzaro political climate could we come up with a strategy to criminalize something a larger part of our population partakes in every year; spending billions ineffectively in the effort. Meanwhile, the tax and commercial revenue is lost to most of our country so we can ship our money to corrupt governments and cartels. At least the gun merchants, boat dealers, and US prison industry are seeing an upside to this.

Me so happy - time to not fire one up.

Blame Obama!! He's the one who shut down the clinic in S.F. He also put his knee on the neck of the politicians in L.A. to close clinics. Isn't Obama in charge of the Government?

culheath: that's good, i liked that ........ good thing it wasn't OIL, gas would have went up 25cents a gallon for the next 6 months.

i love this comment....almost everything i read on the news today was government officials bragging about how much money they waste fighting ghosts (thin air accomplishments)

Obama put his Bong up and stopped smoking. They said today on the radio Obama is into making his own beer. Hopefully he does not cross the Bohner drunk line to become a TV Weeper.

Hummmmmmmmmmmmmmmm Was that Bohner" or "Boner?" ..lol

BUY AMERICAN!

you know why it doesnt effect me...because i live in the Santa Cruz Mountains ,CA and thats where we grow the best weed on this earth ...right in my "neighbors" back yard .......YIPPY KI YAY

How much does it cost us to fly a blackhawk helicopter around to chase after a little marijuana?

4 guys in jail for 20 years, for weed? How much $$$??

Is it really worth it anymore? Is this what we want to spend our money on?

For how much monger will we keep up this charade?

your right murder is the answer...hell while were at it lets start sending ppl to the gas chambers if they have a traffic ticket

We could probably excuse a traffic ticket or two, but someone opening fire on innocent people should be gassed.

roadlesstraveled,

travel down my road. I will see to it you are fuked up. Your a dick. Marijane does less harm than texting and driving on roads. Texting and driving, kills more people than drunk driving....Go back into your box

Cancer and dumbass have alot in common..people are eat up with it..

boffer: Are you one of dem "mellow pot suckers"?

Rather spend tax dollars on this than on bailouts!

“rallyforge, you ignorant slut!”

it appears that nothing our government does today is for the betterment of our future. Just spinning their wheels before they run off to Nicaragua and smoke it all day long themselves.

ji (g),

Your choice of words pretty much sums you up now don't they?

Rally: At least with a bailout, there's a chance the company being bailed out will pay us back.

The War on Drugs is a black hole for money. $25 billion a year, over a trillion dollars since Nixon declared it in the early 70s, and that doesn't even include incarceration costs.

make it legal, tax it, starve the syndicates, pay for public services.....why not?

It won't change a damn thing! Tax it and the dealers will offer it tax free through the bIack market, so the problem is still there.

Yes, just like Prohibition and bootlegging. No way I will go to the store to buy beer! I will find the black market!!!

<rolls eyes>

Critical thinking skills are very rare in Americans anymore.

Yes, just like Prohibition and bootlegging. No way I will go to the store to buy beer! I will find the black market!!!

That's exactly what happens to Canada from their Southern neighbor (USA). About 10% of alcohol sales in Canada are bootlegged booze because of hypertaxation.

The repeal of prohibition did not reduce crime, All it did was make it easier for organized criminal groups to get the booze, Instead of having to try and smuggle it across the border with Canada or into ports all they now had to do was simply hijack truckloads that was already in the US, Crime in the US actually went up after the repeal of prohibition, The revenue generated on the sale of alcohol does not cover the cost to regulate it, Further the cost on society from alcohol continues to soar , Alcoholism Kills people, It burdens our health care system and is directly responsible for vilolent crimes ranging from rape,murder,robbery,burglary and theft, let us not forget Domestic violence and the cost from DWI's. with drunks maiming and killing innocent people.

Lost-

All the problems you mention (and yes, some are actually legitimate problems) are to blame on alcohol and individual's use of it. Most of the things you mention can be blamed on moral failings and addiction. Not the legalization of alcohol.

You have some good points and I think your heart's in the right place, I just think you are misguided. Crime didn't necessarily go up because alcohol was legalized. But officially these crimes were able to be labelled and recognized with the legalization of alcohol. If alcohol was illegal, people would still drive drunk. They'd still be able to have access to it, it would just create a whopping black market (and create more crimes). Either way you swing it, there will be crimes. But legalization of certain substances allows us to have a bit more control over those crimes, instead of fighting and throwing money at a lost war like the one in this article.

Pot is a different drug than alcohol. Less violece and les consumption.

Pot is a different drug than alcohol. Less violece and les consumption.

Lots of Dead Mexicans would disagree.

Most of the things you mention can be blamed on moral failings and addiction. Not the legalization of alcohol.

When alcohol became easier to get more people used it resulting in more addiction and moral failings, Taking alcohol out of the hidden back room tap rooms and into the public view made it easier both physically and morally for people to consume alcohol leading to more alcoholics and crime

Crime didn't necessarily go up because alcohol was legalized. But officially these crimes were able to be labelled and recognized with the legalization of alcohol

Actually yes it did, With the repeal of prohibition there were less criminal statutes because you eliminated smuggling,serving and possession of hard liquor so in reality your statement is completely false, There were less actual criminal statutes to be violated yet the crime rate especially the violent crime escalated after the repeal of prohibition.

If alcohol was illegal, people would still drive drunk. They'd still be able to have access to it, it would just create a whopping black market (and create more crimes).

Those people would have to seek out the places where they could find blackmarket alcohol and would not be able to stop at one of the tens of thousands of bars along the road and just get drunk, It would be much harder for them.

When alcohol was illegal during prohibition, lots of dead gangsters and innocent people.

I think you missed the point about the differences between alcohol and marijuana.

Lost--

It wouldn't be harder for people to obtain alcohol in this day and age. There's this thing called the internet. Don't believe me? You don't have to go to the doctor for that prescription pill anymore. It's pretty easy, and you don't have to leave your chair.

As for crimes, you'd be trading things like DUI deaths etc in for lives that would be taken by cartels.

If you make alcohol illegal, people will just move on to the next thing to chase their high or numb themselves. That is reality. You will NEVER win this war. You're better off focusing on the real problem: people's need to numb themselves. Why not invest in getting them help?

Points aside, John is right. I'm not sure how you can even equate pot and alcohol, because they are completely different.

If you want to continue to throw your money at a war that will never be won, and throw in alcohol prohibition as well...by all means, invest all your money. But don't tell the rest of us what we should be doing with ours.

*Slow clap* I had a brother that smoked pot from the time he was 12 until he died at age 43 ..... from alcohol. Pot doesn't kill, shove this story up your ass.

because that's the real answer and if they did that, then that means big bad daddy government might actually have to fix the country instead of blame it on the citizens

When alcohol was illegal during prohibition, lots of dead gangsters and innocent people.

There were just as many dead ganster and innocent people before prohibition, You have been watching too many Al Capone movies, Prohibition was not the creator of organized crime.

Rallyforge

It won't change a damn thing! Tax it and the dealers will offer it tax free through the bIack market, so the problem is still there.

your right, i buy alcohol and cigs from an underground organization who is able to make .06 from each sale which in turn is enough profit to form an entire underground industry lol

LostInThePineBarrens

The revenue generated on the sale of alcohol does not cover the cost to regulate it, Further the cost on society from alcohol continues to soar , Alcoholism Kills people, It burdens our health care system and is directly responsible for vilolent crimes ranging from rape,murder,robbery,burglary and theft, let us not forget Domestic violence and the cost from DWI's. with drunks maiming and killing innocent people.

yup because you hear all day how Americans are murdering and raping for a joint

Weed is nothing like alcohol....your hate for alcohol should be there and not with a plant

OMG you just cant quit can you....how stupid can you be. Pot is not ALCOHOL!! holy crap give it up already and go cry in your moms skirt about how you destroyed your life being a drunk

The drug lords south of the border would have never gained the power that they have today if Marijuana & other drugs were not illegal in the United States! Illegal drug money has fueled them ... they are rich enough to support a army ..just as kings of the past were ... all from commerce ... commerce of a illegal substance that enough people demand to make the risk worthwhile... Commerce makes the world go round .. whether you want to recognize it or not .. they are no different from any of the other "merchants of death" around the world ... from cigarette conglomerates or gun manufactures ...

They are on the verge of taking over Mexico ... they are a power to be reckoned with .. and the best way to destroy them is to legalize the product, with the caveat that it is only legal if "Grown In America" so that we can reap the benefits that they lose ...a win win for the citizens of this country!

One small overlooked fact in this whole issue is that criminalized drugs gives our military an excuse to have bases all over South America. Our helicopters flying our special ops all over their territories. They resent it down here.

tangeant2:

Yes, it is tragic that so many people are losing their lives in the drug war south of the border.

But that violence can be pinned on the fact that drugs are so valuable because they are illegal. The argument being made is that people who smoke marijuana are less likely to engage in acts of violence than people who have been drinking alcohol. I can say that in my personal observations over the years that this is spot-on. Pot users are generally a lot calmer than drunks, and less likely to engage in completely irrational behavior.

Also, I've never heard of anyone getting date-raped after smoking too much dope, or a fratboy choking to death on his own vomit from doing too many bong rips.

Pot is safer than alcohol.

Lots of Dead Mexicans would disagree.

They aren't dying from using it, just from the violence that comes from trafficking to the US, legalizing would render Mexican druglords useless because it would be industrialized just like alcohol.

Why would they keep smuggling after legalization? American cannabis consumers would have absolutely no reason to buy off criminals when you can get the stuff legally, cheaply, and over the table from local sources. When's the last time you heard of a cartel smuggling liquor across the southern border?

Tyler:

Because when the govt gets through taxing it, the smugglers will sell it taxfree and much cheaper. Case in point: In NY, cigarettes are taxed at $5.35 per pack bringing the price of a pack to over $10.00. However, cigarettes are available on the bIack market or indians at a fraction of the price. I can buy a carton of cigarettes just about anywhere for $50 or 50% less as result. The same thing will happen with pot when taxed! Nothing changes!

Let's face reality...people normally buy on price!

Oh, and liquor is not a good example. It's heavy and ackward to transport and requires a refinery to manufacture...too much overhead for the cartels. It's simpler to plant a seed and let mother nature manufacture it...very low overhead!

You're right Rally. I buy and sell cigarettes on the black market. No taxes that way. I can sell them at $3.00 and make money.

AZ Tumbleweed,

You don't even need to pay $3.00 because thanks to anti-smoking laws, there are ashtrays full of half-smoked cigarettes outside of malls, theaters, gov't buildings and other such places. "Ick factor" aside, some smokers are not averse to second-hand smokes.

If you really don't care about your health, you could easily smoke a pack a day for free.

Cigarettes are a poor example as they are grossly overtaxed.

And do you think that pot won't be if legalized? Come on, man...it's the govt and they will squeeze us for every nickel they can get!

It doesn't matter. There will always be bootleggers. The majority will still choose to buy legally.

Rallyforge,

Some of the highest quality pot is grown right there in the States. It's the number one cash crop in several states. Legalize, tax and promote new businesses and jobs in the U.S. I guarantee that the price drop will remove enough of the profit margin to put the cartels out of business.

The best scenario would be to legalize all drugs. The hard drugs could be dispensed at clinics - to registered addicts - at a fraction of the cost of black market drugs. You would not only eliminate the cartels, you would improve the lives of everyone along the current routes. The farmers could get a fair price by selling directly to FDA, and every country in between would save millions that they now blow on trying to control the traffic.

@Arizona Tumbleweed

Does you little operation require you to murder and decapitate anyone in order to be successful?

Hahahaha....... you sell addictive cigarettes filled with nicotine that kill thousands of people a year. And yet you come on this vine all the time and talk down to people who smoke weed? Hypocrite much? Nicotine is a drug. But I get it.... it's legal.... right? Newsflash Arizona...... You're a drug dealer!

And by the way..... the only people who buy this Mexican crap weed are the high school kids who save up their weekly lunch money until Friday.

If legalized... no one would need to buy it... It grows like weeds -- hence the nickname

TheMan -Bingo.

If it were legal, there would be little incentive to buy the taxed product, people would simply grow their own.

It would, however, strike a blow to the Mexican cartels.

It won't change a damn thing! ... so the problem is still there.

What about the money we're not going to spend chasing our tails around trying to enforce this hoopty prohibition ideal??

Billions of tax dollars saved

"Because when the govt gets through taxing it, the smugglers will sell it taxfree and much cheaper. Case in point: In NY, cigarettes are taxed at $5.35 per pack bringing the price of a pack to over $10.00. However, cigarettes are available on the bIack market or indians at a fraction of the price. I can buy a carton of cigarettes just about anywhere for $50 or 50% less as result. The same thing will happen with pot when taxed! Nothing changes!

Let's face reality...people normally buy on price!"

So are you buying your cheap cigs from a Mexican cartel? If not your argument is worthless.

Regarding the issue of the current bizzare situation vs some future legalized approach to pot in the US: if you want to compare it to alcohol models, I have to consider my own situation. It's legal and lots of resources exist for me to brew my own beer or make my own wine - and perhaps someday I would consider that - but for now, I enjoy the occasional trip to the liquor store to sample a variety of spirits that are often from local businesses. I also enjoy trying new beers if I'm out with friends just for a change. Its' simply more convenient and I enjoy the experience of trying new things that people have come up with. I make it a point to sample local or US products when possible, but I am not exclusive to that.

I think that initially, cartels might benefit, but quickly they would run into stiff competition from honest people who understand the market and concentrate on particular aspects of their product - without having to be experts at criminal activity. The consumer would develop preferences for different packaging and products that evolved; I see it more like a craft brewing experience rather than having a Bud or a Miller. There would be some basic regulation on THC content, foreign material (e.g. "no stems, no seeds that you don't need"), what constitutes an organic product, etc. People would do cross promotions with local Taco Johns, pizza parlors, Dairy Queens (well probably not, but expect ice cream cake sales to rise), and other relevant businesses. I think that we have some pretty good capitalists in this country and given a level playing field, they would build good business models and provide a superior product. Criminalizing it is only helping the criminals.

Great Pot Doesn't "Grow like a weed!" .. It takes extraordinary care to grow high quality marijuana, And quality is what its desirability is based on ... like a great wine! Most Americans won't smoke "Ragweed" they want a quality product ...

Tumbleweedy,

So you are a trafficker in the most deadly drug in America. Wow! Ok, now we know. Drug dealer.

node 4, you are spot on.

Consumers would very quickly gravitate away from Mexican bale pot, which is often of sketchy quality, and would instead support local growers, or would grow their own. Maybe there would be some corporate interests who get involved, but from what I know of people who use marijuana, the business model would likely be more of a "microbrewery" setup, where local growers provide local people with the fruits of their efforts.

No special taxes would be needed. Just regular sales tax alone would bring in a lot of revenue. We send about $18-20 billion per year south of the border just for pot alone. Keep that money home and circulating in our own economy....and if you have extra cash about, invest companies that make fertilizer, companies that supply horticultural light bulbs, and Frito-Lay, because shares would be skyrocketing.

Rallyforge, you sir, or madam, are an idiot. Sorry but it's true.

By your logic you're saying that because the gov't would tax pot if it were legal - people will still flock to the underground pipeline because it'll be cheaper and tax free.

Only a small percentage would do so.

Case in point? This whole debate w/ cigarettes. A lot of places you go now, even in Canada, a pack of smokes is $10 or more. I can guarantee you that everyone I know that smokes - goes to the gas station/CVS/convenience store to buy their smokes. Most people DO go to an actual store to legally purchase their cigarettes. Back before I moved out of Michigan I was paying over $8.00 for each pack of cigarettes I bought. I could've drove 2hrs down to Ohio and bought some for cheaper...But the expenditure for gas would end up costing me MORE overall - plus the time spent - meh. Not too many people would see that as worth it...unless you're THAT much of a nicotine freak and smoke 2-3 packs a day and are needing to buy your cartons by the 10's. If an exhorbitant amount of people were actually buying their tobacco from other sources there would be no incentive for most places to keep selling @ their counters.

Coming from a frequent MJ smoker - I can tell you that if I were given the choice of paying $150 (that includes the tax) for a nice 1/2oz jar of high quality, carefully grown, precisely pruned and beautiful buds from my local Pharmacy or going to some shady location in an even shadier part of town that includes a 20min drive each way for some lower-quality @!$%# that was only $110 for just over 1/2oz I'D STILL MUCH RATHER HIT UP CVS THAN THE GHETTO!

Despite common belief - a lot of pot smokers are actually smart. Most of us know that by keeping this @!$%# illegal it's supporting the bad guys...unless you grow your own - or know a local grower and only buy from him/her.

Legalizing pot will NEVER totally wash out the underground market - but ya know what it can do? Give people like me, and many many others I know, a safer alternative than going to some crappy part of town and dealing with REALLY unsavory people to get our fix.
All the dumbf_ck alcoholics need only hop over to the local 7-11 or package store to get their fix - and their fix is killing them; can potentially kill many other people and is overall a MUCH MUCH worse habit to support - yet I guarantee you that alcohol will NEVER NEVER EVER be illegal again...How does this make any sense?

Gene: That's not what I pay for them. It's my selling price.

We don't have a mall here. Nor a store, bar, 7/11, or restaurant. Not even a burger joint. We do have a very small truck stop and a tire shop. That's it. Next stop, 35 miles either way.

alsophia: Never denied it. NEVER said my drug was good for anyone.

My stupid folly, smoking 4 packs a day, is NOT a good reason for anyone to say drugs are good. My weakness doesn't mean druggies aren't just as weak, or even more so.

If druggies were honest and quit telling lies, I'd be willing to listen to them.

It's because the CA gov't taxes it for one. And there will always be a market for the cartels even if they have to discount it to compete with local sources!

So why bother? Either way we still have people that smoke it.

Tumbledweeb for someone who is Anti_Drug you always show up in these discussions about DRUGS Kind of makes me wonder. If you don't have anything intelligent to say in Support Of Legalization go spew your Ignorance on a Discussion about Junk and Junkyards that's your forte isn't it?

Rank:

Why attack someone for their opinion? In my view, ignorance is someone that cannot accept someone else's view even if you don't agree with them.

Poor foolish uneducated tumbleweed.....go drink your whiskey...

When:

Are you that retarded or are you making an extra effort today to impress us?

Sorry Rally, I just don't have my head inserted so far up my backside that I can't see what is wrong with the WOD..

He's anti-drug..... but he sells cigarettes. WTF?

Cigarettes are not drugs just ask the Coroner. I'll go drink some whiskey with Tumbleweed rather than listening to those who think their SH does dont stink..

Cigarettes are legal. But NOT good for anyone. That's the difference between smokers/drinkers and pot suckers. We admit our drug isn't any good for anything. It's called honesty. Something druggies know nothing about.

And I don't drink any alcohol.

We learned from prohibition that you do not wait over 6 years from the time you pass a law(Prohibition) to start enforcing the law, We also learned that when Prohibition was repealed that crime did not go down it went up and the cost to society from alcohol use went up, Organized crime no longer had to try and suggle alcohol across the Canadian border or to smuggle in thru our ports, That meant all they had to do was simply find a truckload of alcohol on a US highway and hijack it, They did not have to even make the initial investment of purchasing it before smuggling it, They simply stole it and then redistributed it, Organized crimes profits went up, Hijacking of truckload of alcohol ,tobacco and high end electronics continues today because we still have organized crime.

If you want to stop the drugs then you have to go to the root of the problem and that is currently the cartels in Mexico, You have to be ruthless and indescriminant because that is how they are, You simply do not take a knife to a gunfight.

Oh ya, ending prohibition didn't reduce the crime associated with alcohol at all. Gangsters are still killing themselves left and right up in Chicago trying to control alcohol distribution. Puhlease...

LostInThePineBarrens,

Prohibition has never worked in the history of the world except to raise prices on a desired commodity and generate organized black market crime and massive and expensive bureaucracies to deal with it - (not to mention being part of that criminal activity).

Drug use (including alcohol) use is as natural as the weather, its abuse is a health issue, not a criminal justice one. Since the initiation of the massive war on drugs, consumption and organized crime and public damage on all levels has gone up, not down...that should tell you something.

Oh ya, ending prohibition didn't reduce the crime associated with alcohol at all. Gangsters are still killing themselves left and right up in Chicago trying to control alcohol distribution. Puhlease...

In short it did not,

The repeal of prohibition did not reduce violent crime associated with organized criminal activity, Organized criminal activity continued to flourish and with it violent crime, Organized criminal activity continues with us today. I am glad you mentioned Chicago...Alcohol has been legal there since the repeal of prohibition yet Chicago has one of the worst violent crime rates in the US, I suppose you will tell me that the crimes there are because drugs are illegal, and if drugs were legal Chicago would still have there violence, It is not the why but it is the who.

Since the initiation of the massive war on drugs, consumption and organized crime and public damage on all levels has gone up, not down...that should tell you something.

Our population has gone up, everything has gone up, You have no way to qualify your statement that the war on drugs has been the cause, I can just as easily say the the war on drugs has been the only reason that things are not much worse than they are now. Without the war on drugs things would be much worse.

Hey Lost how about you supply some references supporting your BS.

"If you want to stop the drugs then you have to go to the root of the problem and that is currently the cartels in Mexico, You have to be ruthless and indescriminant because that is how they are, You simply do not take a knife to a gunfight."

How would that stop it when it can be grown in a persons closet, backyard, basement, rental unit etc etc.

The Cartels won't go away but they will not be selling weed if its legalized and priced right. Even if your "ruthless and indescriminant" war on them works you will still have Pot everywhere. Its a lost cause and even if you don't want to believe it the crime rate associated with illegal pot will go down as the Cartels envelopment declines due to declining profits. Its simple economic even for them.

"

Oh ya, ending prohibition didn't reduce the crime associated with alcohol at all. Gangsters are still killing themselves left and right up in Chicago trying to control alcohol distribution. Puhlease...

In short it did not,"

Please post some actual stats that backup your claim, if you can!

Since the initiation of the massive war on drugs, consumption and organized crime and public damage on all levels has gone up, not down...that should tell you something.

Our population has gone up, everything has gone up, You have no way to qualify your statement that the war on drugs has been the cause, I can just as easily say the the war on drugs has been the only reason that things are not much worse than they are now. Without the war on drugs things would be much worse.

Our population ha gone up no were near the same rate as the expansion of drug use or the scale of drug econo0mics. You are bring obtuse.

In 1918 Prohibition was passed while all the men were at war.

Disenfranchise the women.

NY taxes cigarettes at $5.35 per pack. They thought what a great way to bring much needed revenue for the state pretending it's going to health services. Today, the bIack market for cheap cigarettes is so prevalent that NYS spends tens of $millions fighting this. So what exactly did they accomplish? Cigarettes are still cheap on the bIack market and NY spends its tax windfall fighting the smugglers!

Rally, it's a jobs program for law enforcement. Typical government, let's overburden the people with more taxes and then spend the money we make on more repression. USA, land of the free....I think not. I can't wait to leave this godforsaken country.

When will that be? And don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.

Ralleyforge .... "They proved that "Supply & Demand" and other factors in the market place works! ... Without a "equilibrium" .. "For every action, there is a equal and opposite reaction" does not just apply in physics ... but with modification of minor functions, applies to the market place ...

The rise of the drug loads also shows that every modification of the free market has consequences in the same way .. many of John Nash s brilliant equations effectively show the same ..

GAO party stash!

Cali...I have to disagree with you on the burning it all...They burn fields of it all the time when they find it out and about..(Boycville,WI for instance) They just give the people who end up burning it a waver from urinalysis testing for awhile afterwords.. :-)

Correct. So why are we spending so much pointless money fighting a war on marijuana? Take away that revenue from them and turn that money towards fighting something that is actually taking human lives....like human trafficking.

I'd like to see everyone who's contributed money and support to this lost war drop a dime for that.

What a twit...

Double-twit.

triple twit

Cliff

Bitter much? God buddy.... lighten up...

So I guess when they carpet bomb the wrong boat and send a yacht full of vacationers to the briny deep, we'll count that as "acceptable collateral damage"?

The War on drugs may be a failed policy for the country but not for the people who have bought off the government and are making fortunes on it.

Right Mark, Fight the plant! Fight the plant. Therre are people relaxing and if we fight the plant there's money to be made! Sad but true!

We the People of The United States are no better then Penn State, because we refuse to accept what is really going on in this country and how both major parties are involved. Republicans and Democrats two sides of the same hand, American citizens don't have control of America anymore it is now controlled by industrialized elitist that only care about profit not who lives or dies. The US goes on with it's own agenda and keeps it's people well divided and conquered. The USA is burning while the career politicians serve their special interest masters,it doesn't matter who gets in as long as big money decides both parties, I'm going to keep voting every incumbent out and for as many independents as I can. If everyone did that it wouldn't change the government in one election but it would sure shake them up to realize that if they do not start serving the people over big money contributions they will be finding temporary employment.The only thing that is going to save the country is putting the pressure on government to serve the people rather then self interests. The major problem is that we really don't hold all of our leaders accountable. We let them toss the hot potato of blame back and forth blaming each other. The truth is that they are all responsible for making excuses rather then solving problems while serving their own self interests then the country that they have sworn an oath to protect. We seem to have either totally incompetent people in power, totally corrupt people or both from what I can see of the direction that this world is heading.Unfortunately the rest of the country will keep putting the sold out traitors back in office until we become another third world country with only the rich overlords and the poor slave class .One election won't change much but if the people stand together and start voting these traitors out of office it will send them the message that we the people are mad as hell and not going to let them buy and sell our country anymore, either way we as a people will get the government that we deserve.