Southern US Border Violence

[deep]

How would libertarians stop the violence?

You really don't know?

Crime and Violence | Libertarian Party

End Prohibition

Drug prohibition does more to make Americans unsafe than any other factor. Just as alcohol prohibition gave us Al Capone and the mafia, drug prohibition has given us the Crips, the Bloods and drive-by shootings. Consider the historical evidence: America's murder rate rose nearly 70% during alcohol prohibition, but returned to its previous levels after prohibition ended. Now, since the War on Drugs began, America's murder rates have doubled. The cause/effect relationship is clear. Prohibition is putting innocent lives at risk.

What's more, drug prohibition also inflates the cost of drugs, leading users to steal to support their high priced habits. It is estimated that drug addicts commit 25% of all auto thefts, 40% of robberies and assaults, and 50% of burglaries and larcenies. Prohibition puts your property at risk. Finally, nearly one half of all police resources are devoted to stopping drug trafficking, instead of preventing violent crime. The bottom line? By ending drug prohibition Libertarians would double the resources available for crime prevention, and significantly reduce the number of violent criminals at work in your neighborhood.

 

[BVS]

I should have known it was that easy...

Guys, vote libertarian and we'll have peace.

 

[deep]

If you vote Libertarian you are not supporting the current drug laws,
most people believe there is a direct relationship to the narco-warlords and gangs that have taken over Mexico

 

[BVS]

I agree, but you and I also know it's not THAT simple.

Legalize drugs and crime will go away!

 

[The_Pac_Mule]

If anything, crime rates will go up as there would be more drug addicts who would commit more crimes to fuel their addictions. Even if prices for drugs are cheaper, they're still going to spend all their money on them..

 

[Canadiens1131]

If anything, crime rates will go up as there would be more drug addicts who would commit more crimes to fuel their addictions. Even if prices for drugs are cheaper, they're still going to spend all their money on them..

Legalizing something like cannibus vs. legalizing so-called "hard drugs" are two very different things.

Ask any 20-something with orange, Cheetos-covered fingers if he feels like getting into a car and blowing red lights, stabbing someone, etc. after smoking a big bowl of pot. Ain't gonna happen. If anything pot would be less destructive to society than alcohol; we've just had it decided for us that alcohol is socially acceptable despite the obvious complications.

 

[The_Pac_Mule]

Legalizing something like cannibus vs. legalizing so-called "hard drugs" are two very different things.

Ask any 20-something with orange, Cheetos-covered fingers if he feels like getting into a car and blowing red lights, stabbing someone, etc. after smoking a big bowl of pot. Ain't gonna happen. If anything pot would be less destructive to society than alcohol; we've just had it decided for us that alcohol is socially acceptable despite the obvious complications.

Right, I wasn't talking about pot. I assume we're talking about the harder drugs. Legalizing marijuanna would have little effect on the drug violence in Mexico and inner-cities since it's more about Cocaine and that fun stuff.

 

[kramwest1]

If anything, crime rates will go up as there would be more drug addicts who would commit more crimes to fuel their addictions. Even if prices for drugs are cheaper, they're still going to spend all their money on them..

The only current example we have shows that to be false:

Decriminalizing Drugs in Portugal a Success, Says Report - TIME

The question is, does the new policy work? At the time, critics in the poor, socially conservative and largely Catholic nation said decriminalizing drug possession would open the country to "drug tourists" and exacerbate Portugal's drug problem; the country had some of the highest levels of hard-drug use in Europe. But the recently released results of a report commissioned by the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, suggest otherwise.

The paper, published by Cato in April, found that in the five years after personal possession was decriminalized, illegal drug use among teens in Portugal declined and rates of new HIV infections caused by sharing of dirty needles dropped, while the number of people seeking treatment for drug addiction more than doubled.

The Cato paper reports that between 2001 and 2006 in Portugal, rates of lifetime use of any illegal drug among seventh through ninth graders fell from 14.1% to 10.6%; drug use in older teens also declined. Lifetime heroin use among 16-to-18-year-olds fell from 2.5% to 1.8% (although there was a slight increase in marijuana use in that age group). New HIV infections in drug users fell by 17% between 1999 and 2003, and deaths related to heroin and similar drugs were cut by more than half. In addition, the number of people on methadone and buprenorphine treatment for drug addiction rose to 14,877 from 6,040, after decriminalization, and money saved on enforcement allowed for increased funding of drug-free treatment as well.

The last line of that quote does it for me: Switch from massive enforcement spending to more treatment and prevention spending.

 

[yolland]

Washington Post, April 24

SAN FERNANDO, MEXICO — At the largest mass grave site ever found in Mexico, where 177 bodies have been pulled from deep pits, authorities say they have recovered few bullet casings and little evidence that the dead were killed with a gun. Instead, most died of blunt force trauma to the head, and a sledgehammer found at the crime scene this month is believed to have been used in the executions, according to Mexican investigators and state officials. The search continued Sunday, with state officials warning they expect the count to rise. They say as many as 122 of the victims were passengers dragged off buses at drug cartel roadblocks on the major highway to the United States.

...As forensic teams and Mexican marines dig through deeper and darker layers here, the buried secrets in San Fernando are challenging President Felipe Calderon’s assertions that his government is winning the war and is in control of Mexico’s cities and roads. In the past four years, more than 35,000 people have been killed and thousands more have simply disappeared, since Calderon sent the military to battle Mexican organized crime with $1.6 billion in US support. US officials in Mexico worry that criminal gangs are taking over sections of the vital border region not by overwhelming firepower but sheer terror. On Thursday, cartel gunmen sacked the city of Miguel Aleman, across the river from Roma, Texas, tossing grenades and burning down three car dealerships, an auto parts outlet, a furniture store and a gas station. Three buses were strafed with gunfire Saturday in separate attacks, wounding three people.

...On Thursday, Mexican authorities arrested the police chief in San Fernando, and 16 of the department’s 25 officers are now in custody, suspected of working for the Zetas to help the gang kidnap, kill and bury their victims.

And we thought we had it bad...San Fernando, that's only about 80 miles south of Brownsville.