Maybe we only have ourselves to blame?

[snoopy]

I was thinking about this whole border crisis thing last night, and went down an interesting line of thought which ran a bit contrary to my right leaning on the matter. Here's what I thought about:

All of these women and kids who are flocking here from Central America are doing so to get away primarily from the terrible conditions there.
The terrible conditions there are largely driven by drug related violence.
It's largely our country's illegal drug consumption that finances and drives the cartels operations down there.

So: wouldn't it be fairly accurate to conclude that at least good portion of the illegal refugee "issue" is a natural consequence of our own neglect for drug control laws? Is one natural (but maybe not obvious) solution to the immigration issue legalization of drugs?

(This obviously hinges on the assumption that the supply-and-demand mechanics of the drug trade enables much of the violence. It isn't fair to say that the violence will disappear without an illegal drug economy, but I do think it's fair that the cartel's finances would take a MAJOR hit without their drug income - thus making it much more difficult for them to take and hold power in the same way that they do now.)

Note: I'm not necessarily advocating the legalization of drugs... I'm just proposing that legalizing all drugs would have immigration consequences. I'd love to see the "demand" side of drug go away because people stop using them... but I'm holding out much hope for that.

[Foil]

I'd love to see the "demand" side of drug go away because people stop using them... but I'm holding out much hope for that.

I assume you meant, "...not holding out much hope for that"? Or are you hopeful for the possibility of reducing drug demand?

[Krom]

Well, here in the US legalizing drugs would really only hurt villains, and it would be a devastating blow to them all. Unfortunately, just because they are all villains doesn't mean they are all criminals. It will never happen because while it would effectively end the war on drugs, the incredibly well funded (by your taxpayer dollars) private prison industry won't ever allow it. Privatizing the prison industry has got to be literally one of the most retarded things our government has ever done, it runs counter to practically everything the nation stands for, it is anti-freedom and anti-liberty. Private industry is always trying to increase demand for their product in order to gain larger economies of scale or to drive up the price, which makes it an absolutely horrible way to run a prison industry with huge influence over the government!

Not to mention, if you think about it for a moment; it isn't like legalizing drugs would help the economies in these other countries, in fact it would more than likely be an absolutely devastating blow to their economies from which they could never recover.

[Nightshade]

The number of morons that use drugs makes me doubt the future of humanity.

We'd be far better off if these druggies just killed themselves outright.

[Will Robinson]

I don't accept the premise that these are mostly children and women.
And drug gang violence isn't suddenly new in the last year...yet the swarm is...

What is new is the prospect of once you're in you're most likely safe and the immigration guards at the border are now your taxi drivers...that is certainly quite new and different.

But I'm all on board the legalization/ de-criminalization of drugs because it would help in many ways regardless of how few recent illegals are driven by that poisonous effect of our recreational habits.

[vision]

Blame Obama.

[callmeslick]

The number of morons that use drugs makes me doubt the future of humanity.

We'd be far better off if these druggies just killed themselves outright.

man has used inebriants for several thousand years. Nothing new, and humanity has persisted.

[Jeff250]

In fact, much of humanity has been conceived because of inebriants.

[callmeslick]

quite true, Jeff.

[Ferno]

Well, here in the US legalizing drugs would really only hurt villains, and it would be a devastating blow to them all. Unfortunately, just because they are all villains doesn't mean they are all criminals. It will never happen because while it would effectively end the war on drugs, the incredibly well funded (by your taxpayer dollars) private prison industry won't ever allow it. Privatizing the prison industry has got to be literally one of the most retarded things our government has ever done, it runs counter to practically everything the nation stands for, it is anti-freedom and anti-liberty. Private industry is always trying to increase demand for their product in order to gain larger economies of scale or to drive up the price, which makes it an absolutely horrible way to run a prison industry with huge influence over the government!

Not to mention, if you think about it for a moment; it isn't like legalizing drugs would help the economies in these other countries, in fact it would more than likely be an absolutely devastating blow to their economies from which they could never recover.

not to mention it's a total perversion of our sense of justice.