Posted on 02/07/2009 4:23:45 PM PST by restornu
TIJUANA, Mexico (Reuters) - Mexican drug gangs near the U.S. border are breaking into police radio frequencies to issue chilling death threats to cops which they then carry out, demoralizing security forces in a worsening drug war.
"You're next, bastard ... We're going to get you," an unidentified drug gang member said over the police radio in the city of Tijuana after naming a policeman.
The man also threatened a second cop by name and played foot-stomping "narcocorrido" music, popular with drug cartels, over the airwaves.
"No one can help them," an officer named Jorge said of his threatened colleagues as he heard the threats in his patrol car.
Sure enough, two hours later the dead bodies of the two named policemen were found dumped on the edge of the city, their hands tied and bullet wounds in their heads.
Cartels killed some 530 police in Mexico last year, some of them corrupt officers who were working for rival gangs. Others were killed in shoot-outs or murdered for working against the gangs or refusing to turn a blind eye to drug shipments.
"These death threats are part of the psychological warfare that organized crime is using against officers," said Tijuana police chief Gustavo Huerta.
"Before, the gangs began infiltrating the radio after a police execution, which was bad enough, but now
Some gangs sarcastically offer their "condolences" over the air after an execution, broadcasting messages like: "We are so sorry
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
The market IS smaller because people who want to work for a living choose not to use illegal drugs on pain of not being hired or being fired. There is a deterrent built into the criminalization. Remove the deterrent and some of those same people will engage in the practice. Do you want your employees high as kite? Especially on your business property and interacting with your customers? How about driving down the road? Flying an airplane? Welding girders on a new skyscaper? Are you ready to take the hit when that employee screws up massively and YOU get sued for allowing a drug addled employee to work on your watch?
Prohibition on alcoholic drugs in the 1920s escalated the black market and opened up an entire industry, not to mention the fact that organized crime gangs became extremely wealthy and powerful, which is exactly what is occurring today.
Take pot for instance, if that alone was legalized, it would totally decimate many of the crime organizations in Mexico and elsewhere.
Those that kick down doors for a living, when they they are honest, totally agree, that this entire war on drugs and throwing people in cages just for mere possession will not work, and it's costing the American people ten of billions to continue this "war" that will never end.
On the flip side however, millions in the U.S. now make a lucrative legal living off this modern prohibition...Unfortunately, it's all on the backs of the tax payers
BTW, there are existing checks and balances in place for that, and if not, they are easily implemented.
Many employers use pre-employment drug screening for new hires. That wouldn't change with decriminalization.
Are you ready to take the hit when that employee screws up massively and YOU get sued for allowing a drug addled employee to work on your watch?
That doesn't make any sense.
Strawman argument. Working at any of these industries while intoxicated is already a violation of law and in critical industries the employees are regularly drug-tested.
You have failed to provide any evidence to support your conclusions.
You say the market is smaller. By how much? Can you put a dollar figure on it? A tonnage figure? How much bigger would the market be if drugs were legal?
LOL, is that something you lay awake at night worrying about?
It would take the money out of dealing with illegal drugs,the same way it took the money out of dealing with illegal alcohol when Prohibition was ended. It is a no brainer if you only give it a little thought!
People shot up speakeasies during the Prohibition; that behavior has ceased now that alcohol is legal. People can brew their own wine and beer, or buy it at the store, there are no massive profits heading to criminal organizations now even though alcohol is legal (and your arguments were made in opposition to making it so). Furthermore, the Prohibition has created the BATFE, and the Kennedy clan has risen to political power, both of which we are still living with today. Prohibition is a cure worse than the disease, and the same is true with respect to drug prohibition.
Incidentally, your comments about “personal responsibility” ring hollow, if you want to make it a “federal responsibility” instead. Personal responsibility means people are responsible for their behavior, and will suffer if they choose poorly. It doesn’t mean sending in teams of thugs at 3AM, to shoot the family dog (at least) and maybe a whole lot more. That’s State responsibility.
In that case wouldn’t that render the mexican Cartels less powerful? The demandfor their drugs would be less because the U.S. would be producing them legally. Right!
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