Jim Babka at DownsizeDC.org writes:
The news of Prohibition-caused violence south of the border is quite sobering . . .
* 22,700 have died in Mexico's War on Drugs since December, 2006
Mexico's drug war death toll climbs over 22,700 : News : KGBT 4
* Which is FOUR TIMES the number of U.S. military deaths in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars since 2001
iCasualties: Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom Casualties
* More and more Mexicans are fleeing to America, NOT to "seek a better life" but because they fear for their lives
Fleeing Drug Violence, Mexicans Pour Into U.S. - NYTimes.com
* Violence is spreading to once-peaceful cities
In Mexico, Drug Wars Spread to Cities - International - The Atlantic
* Tourism is plummeting, and charitable missions to Mexico have been cancelled
Drugs are not tearing Mexico apart, drug prohibition is! As Harvard Economist Jeffrey Miron notes:
"Prohibition creates violence because it drives the drug market underground. This means buyers and sellers cannot resolve their disputes with lawsuits, arbitration or advertising, so they resort to violence instead. Violence was common in the alcohol industry when it was banned during Prohibition, but not before or after."
Commentary: Legalize drugs to stop violence - CNN.com
But there is hope. Paul Armentano of NORML shows how we can defeat the drug lords. He notes that . . .
* Between 60 and 70 percent of the profits reaped by Mexican drug lords are derived from the exportation and sale of cannabis to the American market
* 28 percent of their profits are derived from the distribution of cocaine
How to End Mexico’s Deadly Drug War - The Freeman - Ideas On Liberty
If Congress repealed federal drug prohibition laws . . .
* the narcotics business would move from the black market, governed by violence, to the open market governed by the rule of law
* which means that drug users could start purchasing from legitimate businesses
* drugs would be regulated and taxed by the states in pharmacies and drug stores, not purchased on the streets and school grounds
* drug abusers could be treated for their addictions just as we successfully do with alcohol and cigarettes
* prison crowding would end, providing room to keep true social threats behind bars
* drug pushers and street gangs would see their profits disappear
* and drug lords from Mexico to Afghanistan would be crippled by financial losses
America has enough problems. The last thing we need is for the chaos in Mexico to spread here. End drug prohibition in America now, and the Mexican drug lords will suffer a fatal blow.
The federal government's Merida Initiative is a $1.6 billion program to "help" the Mexican government fight the drug cartels.
As we've seen, the results have been catastrophic. But Congress can help defeat the cartels and bring an end to this tragedy . . .
* without sending troops
* or more foreign "aid"
* while making your streets safer
* and saving the taxpayers tens of billions per year
Instead of supporting Mexico's militarization of the Drug War, we can bankrupt the cartels.
We can do this by embracing our most cherished national values, individual liberty and personal responsibility.
If we end drug prohibition, the cartels will lose their obscene black-market profits which they use to terrorize both Mexico and the United States.
If you want . . .
* peace and stability in Mexico,
* with lower crime and more freedom in the U.S.,
* then please tell Congress to end the War on Drugs.
Help End the Mexican Civil War - DownsizeDC.org
"But if we re-legalize drugs, won't millions of people become heroin addicts?"
Of course, nobody wants this.
Will it happen if we re-legalize drugs?
Did the end of Prohibition result in millions of new alcoholics?
Prohibition did not end alcoholism, and it created organized crime.
Conservatives should be the first to recognize that alcoholism and drug addiction are spiritual problems requiring a spiritual remedy, not a big-government remedy. Too many conservatives want to add federal troops on the border to supplement the federal agents in every public school classroom, who are destroying hope and meaning in the lives of children by removing religion and morality from classrooms which constitutionally belong to the parents.
Federal secularization of education is the real cause of the drug problem.
Federal monopolization of drug sales in the hands of organized crime is the real cause of drug profits, violent turf-wars, and the incentive to hook children.
We need the separation of school and state;
the separation of medicine and state,
and the separation of drugs and state.
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