Mexico's "War on Drugs"... a solution? (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/29/AR2006042901216.html)

Just make "casual drug use" legal?

I guess that will change the face of the average American who crosses the border to have a Margarita in the Cadillac Bar and Grill. :)

Nah. Most likely Americans will cross over in mass and die from OD. In a way, it's a benefit to us. ;)

Sounds like mexico is thinking. Trafficking is where its at anyways, but then again... they are talking about some harder stuff than a joint.

Well, it seems to me that they shouldn't LEGALIZE it, but perhaps place a stiff fine on a small amounts possession. *shrug* make a little money for the state to use fighting the bigger finds. Then instead of worrying about tossing people in jail, make them pay their fines before they are free to go. And if they can't pay the fine, make them work the fine off with public service. :)

I doubt if it will make much difference to the US. Americans won't be able to cross the border and sit down in a cafe and smoke a joint (as in Holland). Smuggling drugs through Mexico to the US will essentially remain the same. This just decriminalizes many Mexicans who aren't career criminals but take recreational drugs. You might get more immigrant workers who are heroin addicts but I'm sure they'll just get deported if they're a problem, right?

My view is to legalize (or simply not regulate) drugs. However, a user can't use "I was on drugs" as an excuse to get out of any crimes they commit.

Someone, somewhere will set up cheap pay-for-use drug rooms. Like opium chambers. A fool and their money are soon parted in many ways.

My view is to legalize (or simply not regulate) drugs. However, a user can't use "I was on drugs" as an excuse to get out of any crimes they commit.

Why in the world did that ever become an excuse?

Legalize them. Any crimes committed while on drugs, gets the penalty tripled.

Many illegal drugs are safer than Tylenol healthwise. The effective dose is much lower than the toxic dose.

If a druggie wants to shoot up, that does not hurt me in the least. If the price of his drug is so artificially inflated because of criminalization, that he has to break into my car or house to pay for his habit, that affects me.

A governmental, a societal, regulation is what leads to drug crimes and drug violence. We don't have people getting shot anymore over whiskey, gin, and beer distribution systems; which did happen when alcohol was illegal.

Remember how in the 1980's and 1990's how violent the drug trade was in the US? Well, according to an economist that studied what happened, the reason that drug related violence went away, to a large degree, was because the economics of the drug trade changed. It was no longer vastly profitable to sell drugs. It wasn't worth losing your life over any longer.

One way of doing this is to decriminalize illegal drugs.

Why in the world did that ever become an excuse?

Beats the hell out of me. Same thing with criminals being granted leniency because they had a hard childhood.

Fox balks at signing drug decriminalization law (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12598317/)