Sunday, March 8, 2009

End the War on Drugs

In this week's issue, The Economist has a good opinion piece on the value of the ending the war on drugs. Worth reading.

From the opposite end of the spectrum, I think I caught Fox News floating a bit of a trial balloon this morning about Mexico.

Even by their own standards, Fox News has been remarkably sensationalistic about the violence in Mexico. Last week, Bill O'Reilly spent a good half hour ridiculously trying to terrify parents into banning their kids' spring break jaunts to such murder hotspots as Cancun and Cabo.

This morning, the host was talking to an "expert" on the violence in Mexico, and I caught this tidbit of dialogue (I Tivoed it to get it right):

Expert: ...The fact the military is stepping in and taking control of this fight shows you how little trust the public down in Mexico has in the police. And it also shows you the seriousness of the problem that they have to bring the military in.

Host: Well, we might have to bring our military in too. A lot of people saying, hey, we might need a surge like we did in Iraq and Afghanistan. Put our own troops there....


I'm not sure who the "lot of people" are, as this is first I have heard anyone seriously suggest any value in putting U.S. troops in Mexico. Expect more chatter in the coming days - it feels like Fox is going to push this idea and force other media outlets into a debate.

One final question for Aztec and others - I am hearing anecdotally that gun sales in places like Houston are through the roof. A fellow trader based in Houston told me it is now virtually impossible to get a new handgun in Houston; there is a six month backlog. Any truth to that tale?

3 comments:

hoss said...

I have a family friend in Connecticut, of all places, who owns a gun store. He can't keep anything on the shelf, ammo or firearms. The same is true here in the the Nashville area. Stores have been cleaned out.

Restless Native said...

Without question the US is the #1 provider of illicit firearms to Mexico. Texas, sharing the longest border and having the fewest restrictions around firearm purchases, is the head-and-shoulders leader in arming the Mexican drug cartels. I guess this is good for our narcobalance of trade, given we send a ton of money down there from our nose candy and wacky-weed purchases.

Truly a virtuous cycle.

Yo Gabba Gabba said...

My boss golfed did his semi-annual golf outing in Ensenada last weekend. Not another person was on the golf course. Mexcio's tourism is dead, and damn right, I wouldn't let my kids head down there.

I think the US may have to legalize drugs or Northern Columbia will be on our border.