Mexican Drug Trafficking (Mexico's Drug War)

LTC (Join to see) - I never did either, have a few childhood friends that are potheads. Such a waste. One of them is a drum savant. He can hear any song once, and then play it perfectly. But, he is such a doper no one wants to bring him into a band because he is so unreliable.

I'd like to see tougher penalties on the users - shoot the dealers on the spot.

Absolutely. The problem is people using drugs. I think for those of us who stay away from the use of that (beyond beer and spirits), we tend to just see a set of subcultures associated with drug use and we disapprove of some things in those subcultures and by doing so, we tend to lose empathy for drug-users in general.

With regard to the criminal organizations that have committed horrific acts of violence in the furtherance of their enterprises, they must be held fully accountable for the violence they have committed But I think attacking the demand-side is more important than attacking the supply-side and we can only reduce the demand-side by influencing how culture sees drug use, by influencing how schools and families choose to address education on drug-use, and by providing effective treatment to existing users of addictive drugs. But when I was younger I had a much more hardline view.

SGT (Join to see) - I am working (writing a book together) with a former cartel money man who worked with every big cartel in the 80's to 90's. He is fond of saying every cartel leader he worked with would have gotten into another business if there wasn't a demand. Their thought process was if the demand needs to be met, why not me? And it is true. The amount of lost lives, money, etc. that has been lost over the years is all directly related to the fact people want to use drugs.

There is a drug crisis in this country. But we must address the use before we will end the crisis. Stop the demand and we stop the influx.