Why is the United States backing Mexican drug gangs?

[piercehawkeye45]

TheMercenary, first let me make sure we are on the same page with a few things. It seems that we both see the current drug situation as very negative but I believe that legalizing the drugs will be worth it since I believe the chance of it benefiting our society is greater than the chance it will hurt it while you do not think it is worth it because you believe the opposite. Even though you disagree with me, if you still see how there is a chance of the situation getting better with legalization keep reading, if you see zero chance of the situation improving and will not change your mind, state it and we will drop the argument.

Second, let me make it clear that there is no objective statistics on this matter for two reasons. First, there are no instances where cocaine or heroin have been legalized before and second, there are so many other variables involved it is impossible to objectively relate legalization with positive or negative effects. For example, if we look at marijuana abuse in British Columbia in the past ten years, that will not be proof that legalization of marijuana will either increase, decrease, or have no effect on abuse because there are so many other factors. First, since BC is a token place to smoke weed, it will get a disproportional amount of attention for weed smokers. Second, marijuana usage increased in BC from 1992-2004 so there are obviously other factors involved. Third, marijuana works differently than cocaine and heroin and are seen differently by teenagers so results could be completely different. Social effects are the same way because it is impossible to get reliable data that actually represents what we are talking about.


If you still require 100% objective proof to change your mind even though it doesn't exist state it and we can drop the argument. If you disagree with this, argue. If you do not require objective proof keep reading


Back to your argument

Originally Posted by TheMercenary

Because I don't think that you can control the addiction. Alcohol is bad enough. I believe it ruins lives, families, and it would further burden the healthcare system.

My first response is that education plays a much bigger role in preventing addiction than availability. The anti-smoking campaign versus prohibition shows this. In 1964, 44% of people smoked, in 1991 it dropped to 21%. Education and lack of availability determined this, not legalization. During the prohibition, alcohol use went up despite it being illegal. So, in conclusion I can say that with proper education and controlling availability, we can lower the amount of abusers while still legalizing it for other reasons. Keep in mind that these two examples do not prove my argument because of the reason I gave above but they do support it. I have yet to see anything that supports your argument.

My second reason is that with the extra money not being thrown into worthless "drug wars", we can spend it on rehabilitation and education. Most addicts will do anything to get the drugs whether it is illegal or legal and the only way to keep addicts from abusing drugs is through rehabilitation. So, I don't see how your argument makes sense until you provide evidence that legalizing the drugs will increase use to counteract education and rehabilitation.

So to sum it up, legalization doesn't have much effect on being able to "control the addiction". Addicts will get the drug whether it is legal or not and by legalizing the drug, we can take measures to provide better education and rehabilitation to lower the addiction rates, not to mention take out the black market.

I am willing to take the chance of raising individual abuse by legalizing the drug and it seems that you are not. If you feel that way fine, we can agree to disagree.