California's Pot Proposition Won't Stop Mexican Narco War

Maybe we're being a bit short-sighted in saying that Prop 19 won't help quell violence resulting from drug smuggling. Of course 1 state doesn't consume all of the marijuana imported from Mexico. Obviously there are 49 other states that would still rely on imports, but the most important thing to remember is that California is a trend-setting state. Many laws start in California and then spread throughout the country (a great example would be auto emissions). If prop 19 passes in California, legalization would suddenly not be so scary for less liberal states. I'm sure Oregon, Colorado, Montana and others would quickly follow suit.

Does anyone deny that legalizing marijuana nationwide (or at least in a large majority of states) would help reduce drug-trade related violence? If so, I'm curious to hear your argument.

The Narcos dont give a danm about marijuana being illeagal violence coming from this issue has nothing to do with it. Legalizing will only allow the Cartels to have even more power over governments

nice report good job cant wait to see it

esta can'on

Nice pro 'narcs keeping their job' piece.

The increased violence after passing prop 19 is a consequence of having made it illegal in the first place. The price of an illegal item is set that way because of the cost involved of circumventing the law.

This whole situation is called reaping what you sow. Avoiding removing laws which in themselves cause more crime are what's making the world grow worse. It's asking for a bigger problem later. If you think getting rid of it now is going to have bad consequences, just wait another decade or two when the cartels are even bigger.

Law enforcement doesn't know about economy, or what their laws do, so they should keep their mouths shut and do they only thing they know how and thats keep doing what they are told.

Look... No one REALLY cares about the cartels when they talk of Prop 19. PROPOSITION 19 is a STATEMENT. Its a statement that says look.. Marijuana can be legalized at a state level and its not even a fraction as bad as Alcohol is. Americans each year overdose on Tylenol, Advil, make meth from over-the-counter drugs. Florida alone suffers 1000 deaths a year from pain pills and also sell them for 500% mark-ups in the surrounding states to further this addiction. LETS BE REAL, Marijuana is a naturally grown plant that you can literally pick right off and smoke. You dont need to mix with chemicals or transform it into a poisonous substance to the point where you can actually OD off it or die making it. Oh, and you CANT overdose on marijuana even if you tried! WAKE UP!

Eliminate violence in Mexico? No. But I will tell you this we have been growing and distributing for our selves for quite some time now in Oregon and there ain't no Mexican or Mafia of any sort here. once the rest of the country Legalizes and not just Cannabis but other drugs at least for rehabilitation purposes if not out right use then we can talk about decreasing the drug trade in Mexico and our hemisphere.

'Twas one of the possible pros of scaling back the cartels profits, but it wasn't the main idea.

Medical marijuana should be in the hands of the sick given by the government, not criminals and not corporations.

Legalizing personal plants to grow will be exciting, even if it's only allowed for medical users. Most of the younger generations have been so detached from planting anything since elementary school, we may begin to grow our own vegetables & fruits.

The tone of the article is overly pessimistic and short sighted, and seems to be arguing for the status quo, which is disastrous.

While passing Prop 19 may not stop the drug war, it will at least begin to slow it down, and help our nation begin to redefine our relationship with marijuana in particular, and so called "illicit drugs" in general.

herp a durr! of course it wont!

No shit. California is one state out or 50 states that drugs are being illegally smuggled to.

That's like trying to say you could end Polio by vaccinating one out of every 50 people!

" demanded by America, supplied by Mexico." the demand and high price is a direct result of interdiction, and criminalization.

You are absolutely correct, Adam, legalization by a single state will not keep the drug pushers off the school bus in other states. Only Nationwide legalization would stop the Inflated prices that fuel the Cartels.

As a backounder, read this Consumers Union 1973 report on Drugs... http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0316153400/sr=1-1/qid=1288641370/ref=olp_produc...

... the points made 37 years ago are still valid:

Substance Abuse Laws artificially drive up prices and lure dealers into the marketplace. The more Intensely laws are enforced, the higher the price, and the more dealers enter the market.

But, stepping back for a moment, forget about Pot for a minute, after all it's a "soft" drug, apparently enjoyed by a majority of the population.

Let's look at Methamphetamines, like pot, it has Created drug multimillionaires as well as two-bit hustlers, and dime store labs across the world.

Speed Prohibition resulted in Megans' Law, passed after the death of an innocent college student shot during a carjacking while stopped at a redlight.

If meth had been legal, the robber probably would have learned in school not to play with speed, but suppose somehow he started anyhoo.

Meth is one of the most addictive drugs known, the average lifespan of a speed user is 2 years. But until he died, he would have held down two or three jobs (tweekers are like that) paying for his fix (plus tax) at the local liquor store. Then he would die an agonizing, prolonged, ugly death.

The light would turn green, and Megan would have arrived at class on time. Who deserved to die?

Legalizing all drugs would kill the black market and therefore stop the Mexican Narco War.

Why would it stop the narco war when cocaine and heroine are the top profits?

Of course it won't stop the drug cartels. Not until we have federal legalization. Also... government agencies, including state police... make MASSIVE amounts of money off of prohibition... why would they stop?

Repealing prohibition on a federal level is the way to go and prop 19 in CA is a step in the right direction... not to mention all of the other benefits of prop 19 like not treating nonviolent flower smokers as criminals, refocusing law enforcement priorities where they belong and generating billions in revenue. It is asinine for this plant to be illegal. We need to move in the right direction, if only step by step.

7 of the Largest Drug Busts in History

1. In 1991, law enforcers in San Francisco seized 59 boxes containing 1,080 pounds of heroin, which, according to drug war officials, have a total street value of $2.7 billion to $4 billion. It is regarded as the biggest heroin bust ever.
Source
2. Twenty-one tons of cocaine were seized from a Los Angeles warehouse in 1989. Authorities traced ownership of the drugs to Mexican drug lord Rafael Muñoz Talavera of the Juárez cartel, one of Mexico’s richest drug cartels. Muñoz was eventually murdered, his body discovered in Juárez with several bullet wounds in 1998.
Source
3. The late Pablo Escobar, who was once at the helm of the Medellín Cartel in Colombia, had a laboratory he called “Tranquilandia” built in the jungles of Colombia for large-scale cocaine production. In 1984, the Colombian government, acting on a tip from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) raided Tranquilandia and seized 14 tons of cocaine worth more than $1 billion... which is probably as much money as all the drug rehab centers, who eventually would have had those cocaine addicts pouring in, have lost.
Source
4. In what is considered the biggest maritime bust in U.S. history, the U.S. Coast Guard confiscated 40,000 pounds of cocaine from three ships in March 2007. Current street value pegs the cache at $500 million.
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5. In May 2005, Colombian authorities claimed to have seized 13.8 tons of cocaine worth $US350 million hidden on a jungle riverbank in southern Colombia.
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6. A ship bound for Houston, Texas was intercepted by the U.S. Coast Guard in January 1999, and yielded over 9,500 pounds of cocaine.
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7. On November 1, 1984, U.S. Coast Guard cutter Clover confiscated 13 tons of marijuana from the 63-foot yacht Arrikis 150 miles southwest of San Diego. Three days later, 20 tons of marijuana were seized by yet another Coast Guard ship, the icebreaker CGC Northwind, from the P/C Alexi I off the coast of Jamaica.
Source

prop19 will help in sorting out this mess