>>I would not do the same for the garden variety users. <<
Without them it would be a quiet business that you and I would rarely hear about, something along the line of diamond smugglers. We’ve learnt over the years that even garden variety users are actually hardcore addicts. Kind of like an alcoholic who does fine as long as there’s no booze anywhere close. Tie a bottle to the headlight of a locomotive and the dumb bastard will kill himself just to get a mouthful.
I’ve seen more people lose damn good jobs for half a pound of weed than I can think of. Sheer idiots with zero self control when it came to smoking dope. These days I’m ready to let them smoke it and go on their merry way, no crime, no time. I’m tired of supporting them in jail and paying for their arrests, attorney, judge, jury and trials. If it’s that addictive then let the Lord deal with them.
That would seriously tick off the dealers because all the profit would go poof and they’d be out of business overnight. The cash register would go from ringing up a million a day to a thousand a day. Pedro would be pissed. LOL
Legalizing marijuana to stop smuggling may have worked back in the day, but I don’t think it would now. The Cartels have organized growers in the U.S. and their extensive network is tied to distribution of not just pot across the border but home grown also. I really think if it were legalized the Cartel/s would control the legal network and make the dough from it. I think they control enough of our politicians to make this work, if not they soon will. The other problem is the Cartels are diversified now so if we legalize marijuana or even all drugs then I think they would just ramp up their other illegal enterprises. We should never have let it get to this point. Many saw this coming but couldn’t get anyone to do anything. Too many people getting payoffs, too many political favors. And some of our politicians and authorities are just truly stupid when it comes to the border issues.
The customers are indeed to blame for the mess, the reason I would deal with the Cartel people so harshly is because they are truly ruthless and as you and I know they are bringing their war to us more so every day. The only way to keep their Cartel war in this country from getting to the level Mexico has is to deal with them as harshly as possible ASAP. They are like the outlaws that took over towns in the early west, they had to get a sheriff that was tough enough to deal with them or hire another killer to take them out.
I could care less either way if we legalize marijuana or all drugs for that matter, but I don’t think it would solve the border issues we have today. I do think it might have worked back in the day when individual smugglers were bringing small loads across and were not organized.