Watching the news this morning I caught a short segment on a Mexican drug cartel hitman recently nabbed by police while trying to cross the U.S./Mexico border. After admitting to having already murdered four people, he admitted to being only fourteen years old. Yikes. A graphic then came onscreen declaring that 28,000 people have died during the Mexican drug wars of the past three years.
So. I did a little googling about how to end the drug war and came across article after article (including this pretty good one from Esquire) advocating total legalization, accompanied, of course, by regulation. I know legalization isn’t exactly a new thought, but as these wars continue and people die and families collapse and billions of dollars achieve little more than stasis, shouldn’t a new tack finally be taken?
Would legalization of drugs end the war? I don’t know. There is plenty of common sense logic supporting the idea. The question makes me think of the HBO series The Wire. Remember when Stringer Bell got involved in real estate development? Suddenly, pushing drugs didn’t seem so appealing. More money could be made with less risk to life and limb by going “legit.” Sure it was still crooked, and no, it didn’t end well for him, but for all the shady business behind corporate capitalism murders aren’t exactly the norm. Besides, could legalizing drugs really make a situation that claims so many lives, costs so much money, and destabilizes entire nations any worse?
