The author is quite correct in stating that RE-legalization is the only thing that will have a positive impact on the so called war on drugs.

I advocate RE-legalization because that move would actually save lives. Dispensing now illegal drugs should be done by the states, not the feds. There should be a uniform code or law that insures all the states have manufacturing processes, uniform quality, uniform dosage & low prices. Consequence Of Use Education of these should be mandatory, as some illegal drugs are almost as deadly as Rx drugs. Quality & potency would be uniform insuring many fewer over dose deaths. Crimes committed to get money for addictive drugs would drop & save lives. Law enforcement killing of innocents would also stop. LEOs have killed many more innocents than has cannabis. Cannabis does not kill. Cannabis is even safer than aspirin.

Cannabis should be RE-legalized straight up. Treat it like alcohol. We can make beer or wine at home, so why cannot we grow our own cannabis? Honest research will show that alcohol is by far more dangerous than cannabis & has fewer medical benefits. Research what drugs the Columbine & other school shooters were on or had been taking before they shot up their schools. It was LEGAL Rx drugs. I have yet to see cannabis mentioned in the reports.

I do not say that everyone should start using drugs. That can be a dangerous path...But those who use now should not have to worry about some big brother gov agency breathing down their back. Plus the real gate way drug, media churned curiosity regarding the 'forbidden fruit' would be greatly negated. Remember, the war on drugs has cost liberty & freedom in many areas. Prohibition gives big bro gov an excuse to bring in a bit of Fascism, for our own good of course.Re-legalization & state operated dispensaries could provide a safe environment for those stupid enough to try crap like meth, heroin, crack, X or what have you. Also dispensaries could provide a support group for those who want to quit dangerous addictive drugs when they realize what a stupid mistake they have made by using them for recreation. According to Law Enforcement Against Prohibition the % of addicts in the US has stayed at about 2% for a long time. They polled & found that some 98 or so % would not start using dangerous drugs if & when RE-legalized.

I keep saying "RE"-legalized because ALL drugs were once legal. Again, according to LEAP, even when all drugs were legal the addicted % of the population stayed about the same. In fact, in the Colonies it was once illegal not to grow hemp.

Opponents of RE-legalization call the idea surrender. But RE-legalization is not that. It is only a change in tactics. Prohibition of drugs, like alcohol, has been a dismal failure. Prohibition is good for crooks like North& the cartels, but not so for the people 'on the street'.Drugs are more plentiful now than ever. Most every one who wants them do so now. Illicit  drug use is more than likely at the saturation point now.

We must take the $ from the crooks if we want them to stop sending drugs into their markets. Prohibition makes them rich & powerful. We must end that.

What used to puzzle me is this: LEGAL Rx drugs, 'whose side affects may...' be dangerous, kill many times more than prohibited ones. But no one says any thing about the LEGAL drug cartels, the synthetic Rx script drug industry. No media that I know of, except for RE-legalize groups like LEAP, ASA, NORML & MJ grow websites has pointed out this glaring, insane & deadly hypocrisy.

Ollie should be in prison, no doubt.

Then there is the outlandish waste of $ that it takes to fight this lost war. The USA cannot afford this war. Out debt is just to HUGE!!

SamFox

He wants to corner the crack market. Time to end prohibition peoples! 

A related aspect to the Mexican/American drug war is the proliferation of weapons of military derivation used by the cartels - including tossed grenades and RPG's alongside the pintle mounted machine guns.  Of course the Mexican and American governments are trying to link these military weapons to American civilian's access to weapons of self defense so they can  legislate against them.  

I'm of the opinion the people trying to obtain the small calibre single shot defense weapons in Mexico are non-cartel aligned Mexican civilians.  It may be against the law to own them but their love of live is overriding their fear of the law.   And, as always there are businessmen willing to take a chance to make a profit - nothing wrong with that!  The Mexican law enforcement agencies are infiltrated and ineffective - the cartels have begun, not weeks but months ago, to take out civilians in the way.  All of this will calm down when enough civilians have enough weapons to restrain the blatant  disregard for life displayed daily against Mexican society.

Buck Norton