HOLY SHIT!!!!!!!

[KC2UGV]

Bush handled matters in the same fashion which Obama is now doing: Poorly, and with selfish intent. With the Republicans, it was all about cheap labor. The Democrats, a larger, secure voter base.

Both parties would gladly sell the security of the southwest (and possibly the entire country) down the Rio Grande to appease their own special interests. This disgusts me.

You did know, that our southern border is actually more secure than it's ever been, right?

Just a factoid: If Marijuana was legalized across this entire nation, the drug cartel problem would disappear almost overnight.

[N2NH]

You did know, that our southern border is actually more secure than it's ever been, right?

Just a factoid: If Marijuana was legalized across this entire nation, the drug cartel problem would disappear almost overnight.

As a culture, we have never been shy about banging our head against a wall and wailing loudly.

[N8YX]

Just a factoid: If Marijuana was legalized across this entire nation, the drug cartel problem would disappear almost overnight.

Doubtful. The profit-per-volume ratio of marijuana is far lower than crystal meth, crack and similar highly addictive narcotics. Those substances yield the cartels high profits with relatively low refinement and distribution risks. The government could give pot away by the truckload and it wouldn't alter the hard-core addicts' behaviors one iota.

[KC2UGV]

Doubtful. The profit-per-volume ratio of marijuana is far lower than crystal meth, crack and similar highly addictive narcotics. Those substances yield the cartels high profits with relatively low refinement and distribution risks. The government could give pot away by the truckload and it wouldn't alter the hard-core addicts' behaviors one iota.

Crystal meth and crack are both locally manufactured, generally speaking. Now, cocaine, from whence crack comes from gets here across the border. However, the main problem with crack is that it's cheaper than marijuana. Both marijuana and cocaine costs about the same to get across the border. Cocaine, however, carries stiffer penalties than marijuana, hence gets more expensive once it hits the border. Crack is cheap, because it's cocaine, cut down with common household chemicals, to the point where per-sale units of crack are cheaper than per-sale units of marijuana.

Make marijuana legal, and it becomes cheaper than crack. Capitalism will dictate that more people will buy marijuana than crack, since it would be easily obtainable, cheaper, and zero risk (When compared to crack). Why try crack for the first time when you can just go down to the gas station and get a pack of spliffs?

Border security has zero to do with crystal meth, since it is primarily manufactured from common chemicals that are cheap here in the US. Want to eliminate meth? Put up "border security" around rural areas. That's where meth is made. It's the new "moonshine".

[N8YX]

Border security has zero to do with crystal meth, since it is primarily manufactured from common chemicals that are cheap here in the US. Want to eliminate meth? Put up "border security" around rural areas. That's where meth is made. It's the new "moonshine".

Therein lies the rub.

We've gone after bulk purchasers of sudoephedrine and other chemical constituents of meth with such fervor that obtaining enough of them for large-scale domestic production has become very difficult; thus, it has shifted to areas south of our (open) border. The few regulations in place within Mexico on these items are difficult if not impossible to effectively enforce, and the floodgates into this country remain wide open.

[KC2UGV]

Therein lies the rub.

We've gone after bulk purchasers of sudoephedrine and other chemical constituents of meth with such fervor that obtaining enough of them for large-scale domestic production has become very difficult; thus, it has shifted to areas south of our (open) border. The few regulations in place within Mexico on these items are difficult if not impossible to effectively enforce, and the floodgates into this country remain wide open.

I dunno where you get that data from. The "work around" is to send 10 mules to 10 different places, and purchase the largest amount allowed. Mix in some mail -order sent to a PO box. Cook it up in the rural mobile lab, then move to a new locale, and rinse, wash, and repeat.

The only thing that would need to come across the border is the Ephedrine. The remainder of the constituents are so commonly used in large quantities, there's no way to track it.