Mexican navy kills top cartel kingpin in shootout

If Americans were allowed to grow their own marijuana, this would probably happen a lot less.

Mexico's border states are fast becoming mini-Afghanistans controlled by the drug gangs. I would not wish this situation on my worst enemy.

This violence won't end any time soon, unfortunately. The mexican drug lords are ruthless when it comes to business. These people make the bootleggers of the 20's look like boy scouts by comparison. Unfortunately, marijuana isn't the only drug they deal, anything that makes a profit will do. Currently, with the relaxing of laws regarding marijuana, they are now branching out into meth, which is cheap and easy to manufacture.

Thanks to the War on (some) Drugs

Unfortunately, marijuana isn't the only drug they deal, anything that makes a profit will do.

Pot is a cash cow. They lose that and they won't fold, but they will shrink.

they are now branching out into meth

A drug people try because getting marijuana illegally, they figure "in for a penny in for a pound". Same with MDMA, another drug which should be legalized.

Correction: pot WAS a cash cow. Now, you can get it almost legally by going to a dispensary in some states. My sister USED to buy pot from a dealer, she now gets it from a friend with glaucoma. She's not the only one who does this, either.

This has seriously cut into their profits. Hence, they have increased their meth operations, which are becoming more profitable due to the recent laws that have been put in place in several states limiting purchases of cold medication (an ingredient used to manufacture meth).

As drug laws regarding marijuana are softened, they will keep branching out into the hard drugs and the violence will only increase.

This is one of the few countries where the police don't kick the public's a@# but the other way around. It started with corrupt government and police officials. Now they are in way over their heads. This is the kind of battles the US should get involved in. Real direct threats to our nation. That is starting to spill over into our border. Not that bull@#$$ lies Bush feed us about Iraq. That and marijuana legalization would solve a lot of problems.

flatearther,

Despite easier access. It still doesn't make the kind of impact it would if it was legalized all over the country. It could be grown hear in large amounts giving farmers business. It would also build other businesses up and improve the economy a little. It would also be regulated by the government to reduce the number of children getting it, making the product safer and lower the costs. It cut also reduce some of the violence throughout.

Getting some from a friend with a prescription, paying a doctor to give you a prescription or starting you own medical marijuana facility won't have the same kind of effect as legalization.

Ah, but it IS beginning to have an effect. A small effect, but an effect nonetheless.

The drug gangs are keeping note of the marijuana trend, and adjusting operations accordingly. Couple that with the increased policing of the border and other factors and you get this increase in violence.

I won't argue with you about marijuana legalization, this thread isn't for that and besides, I agree with your points. It should be legal, but it isn't.

My point is that Americans being able to grow marijuana won't solve the problems with Mexico's drug gangs. They will simply find new products to branch out into.

Also, most of the marijuana sold at the dispensaries is grown by Americans, not the Mexican gangs.

Poor Yanks. Stuck between drug cartels in Mexico chopping off heads of policemen cos the Canadians to America's north are flooding US markets with cheap homegrown.

I say legalize all drugs, and tax the hell out of them.

merry christmas indeed.

The main problem is that USA citizens consume huge amounts of drugs. Their government, instead of tackling this issue internally, develops "plan Colombia" to taint the marihuana crop. But as Americans keep on consuming, the business moves to Mexico, Ecuador, Bolivia or Brazil.

Yelnats-I say legalize all drugs, and tax the hell out of them.

I agree 100%.

legalize drugs, and they still have a sex trade going on too. I would hope you wouldn't want that legalized too... Face it, kill one of their businesses they'll just find another lucrative method.. you can't just keep legalizing crimes in order to fight them. A different method is needed.

If pot was legalized it wouldn't end this, but it would make it more controllable. Most people wouldn't grow it anyway. It's not that it's difficult, but look how many people grow gardens. They don't make the effort. But the US could start getting a portion from growers and traders not affiliated with the cartels.

But take the busdiness away from the cartels and they will dry up.

But these police officers are brave men. The numbers of police deaths must be atrocious. < :-)

The cartels are not like extremist Muslims. They don't waist time by making videos and posting them up on youtube, none of that stuff. They get right to business and their message is clear. The reason why this is happening is because the police are getting in the cartels way of business. So they are saying stay out of our way or this will be your head! So if government were to legalized drugs. The police can stop worrying about them and they can begin to start legitimizing their business. They will call themselves "La Familia Pharmaceutical" And when the government gets in their way it will be politicians heads we will be reading about online!

flatearther:Correction: pot WAS a cash cow. Now, you can get it almost legally by going to a dispensary in some states. My sister USED to buy pot from a dealer, she now gets it from a friend with glaucoma.

Sorry but your sister and others in some states have hardly killed the cash cow. There are a lot of pot smokers in the U.S. and not nearly enough farmland or closets devoted to producing enough to satify them. Not nearly.

As drug laws regarding marijuana are softened, they will keep branching out into the hard drugs and the violence will only increase.

Branch out? Where did you think the hard drugs were coming from up to now?

As for the violence, that is less predictable. I can see a scarcity of funds going either way in the short run, but in the long run, their power to get away with things like this will decrease with the money.

Hmmm... this looks ike good news at last. These kingpins need to feel threatened. They need to know that they are mortal. They and their lieutenants need to know that as you sow, so shall you reap. Their day is coming... very soon.

I guess this is bad news if you live in Cali or Texas or somehwere like that near Mexico. But if youre near Canada the bud will still roll in by the tons.

I say legalize all drugs, and tax the hell out of them.

That's not going to solve anything. We have the legal right to own guns in the USA, but people who choose to commit criminal acts and who have done so in the past and can't own a gun legally still use them, and when a sensational story comes out about it, all I see on this board is "guns should be illegal."

Legalized drugs is not the answer. All it takes it to look at an episode of COPS one day, and you will find that in most cases, the people busted for drugs will have the illegal ones, and also the legalized prescription drugs too.

So for all the legalize drugs and tax the hell out of them believers let me ask you this. Most of the crimes (and gun crimes) in the US come from people stealing and committing felony acts to get money to buy drugs illegally.

So if the drugs are legal, and people can buy them from a legal distributor, they will still need money to get the drugs. And just because it would be legal does not mean that those who can't afford it are going to be given it for free. If anything, it will cost more since now they have to pay all the taxes, and if they are strung out users now having to resort to crime to feed their habit, where will they get their money from? Go to any "bodgea" in NYC or local mom&pop store in any poor area, and they will sell the "loosey" cigarette (for those who don't know, that is the individual cigarette from the pack that probably goes for .50 a cugarette, since the taxes on a pack are so high most poor people can't afford to buy a single pack, let alone a carton). So we will still have the problem of a demand for a product, and those who are strung out on it will need a way to fund their demand for that product. If you can't work because of your drug usage, then what will a person do? Commit a crime to get money most likely?

Legalizing is not the answer. Going after the big movers, and the business that launder the money would probably be a better bet, instead of the system of turning a blind eye as long as everyone gets paid, as is the case in Mexico and now you see how it has gotten out of control.

I am confused why they had to call the navy to do that? Did they have to cross a large moat to get to him, or what?

The easiest way to stop the drug cartels if for Americans to stop taking drugs. It would stop the money going to Afganistan to finance terrorist activities. Americans finance the terrorism! Americans don't want to have that discussion. Drugs are not a problem, rather, drugs are the symptom of a problem, a very deep problem with American culture and values: what is it about American life that makes Americans want to take drugs?

what is it about American life that makes Americans want to take drugs?

Controversial answer: Because the American dream is only a dream, and the projected reverence for family and religion is no more than a virtual image and total fiction.

Navy -more isolated than people on the ground = less possibility they are being paid off by the drug cartels.

The Mexican government had listed Arturo Beltran Leyva as one its 24 most-wanted drug lords and had offered a $2.1 million reward for his capture.

Good work. Now get busy on the other 23, pronto!

Alphaape: We have the legal right to own guns in the USA, but people who choose to commit criminal acts and who have done so in the past and can't own a gun legally still use them

Even if only two people who cannot legally own guns get them and use them, despite the regulations, then what Alphaape says is totally true. I guess the question now is: Do you prefer 2 or 2000? Basically what Alpha is saying is that since murder still happens, laws against murder are useless. May as well throw them out. The anarchy we have now will be exactly the same without the rules. Ditch them all.

The easiest way to stop the drug cartels if for Americans to stop taking drugs.

shinjukuboy: Nacy Reagan tried that back in the 1980's with the "Just say No" campaign.

Drugs are not a problem, rather, drugs are the symptom of a problem, a very deep problem with American culture and values: what is it about American life that makes Americans want to take drugs?

Not just an American problem, but a world wide one that at the basis is caused by greed. Look what the British did to China during the Opium wars. Look at how countries like Malaysia have tough laws against drugs as noted by that JN woman who was recently arrested there. They are far from any major American influences.

There is nothing about the American culture that makes one drift to drugs than there is with the Japanese culture. There is a drug problem here too, maybe not as widely known but it exists. If anything being a bit more liberal in America means that there is not as much as a stigmatism as there is in other parts of the world for drug users.

The thing is, you can kill as many "kingpins" as you like, others will spring up like mushrooms to fulfill the demand, if not in Mexico, then elsewhere. The demand will be filled by someone somewhere. It is not the supply side, but the demand side that has to be targeted, but of course, politicians are such pansies that they can't ever point to the electorate and tell them what they need to hear: YOU are the cause of all the violence, death, and distruction. Stop taking drugs. The electorate will simply elect someone who tells them what they want to hear, i.e., that they are so great etc etc etc (even as the killing goes on).

When you look at the damage drug use/abuse causes to families = draconian laws make sense in usually Muslim countries = they make a very strong incentive not to get involved in drugs and these rich drug/financial cartels. Alcohol/Pornography is similiar.

Does supporting Drugs/alcohol/Pornography/prostitution support my community or hurt it? -You vote on these causes with your $$ = support.

One of the reasons I cannot support the Bank of England + Federal Reserve (owners have a history of drug schemes + enslavement policies etc.)

shinjukuboy: politicians are such pansies that they can't ever point to the electorate and tell them what they need to hear: YOU are the cause of all the violence, death, and distruction. Stop taking drugs.

Odd that the pansy should be synonymous with "sissy". The pansy is so cold hardy it can survive freezing while blooming!

You are right that the sissies are the politicians though. They don't have the backbone to stand up and legalize harmless drugs like pot and MDMA for the sake of our neighbor Mexico. And its all because of interest groups to which they owe their elections.

The stance of those against hemp and marijuana is quite ridiculous. I will sooner blame the people who made such ridiculous rules than the people who disobey them. Hemp is a very useful plant and marijuana is as harmless as alcohol. Both have a long historical value.

I see over and over numbskulls posts slanting these cartel murders toward marijuana. We see your personal views on THC, which overall I do agree with you, yet it has been said before that marijana is the least profitable drug on these cartels menu. BC Bud took away Mexicos crown years ago. The big cash for these guys is heroin, cocaine and now meth, probably not in that order. Legalize marijuana and only a small dent will be made in Mexico`s drug trade, and the murders continue. This tragedy in Mexico is about money, supply and demand, and more money. And when Mexican cops make $600 a month and a drug runner 10 times that, I doubt much will change.

Pump24: it has been said before that marijana is the least profitable drug on these cartels menu.

I might be wrong, sure, but that is not proof that I am. I actually did look for information on that topic. I did not find any. If you have some links I would love to see them.

Really. The US DEA has a website full of info.

http://www.justice.gov/dea/pubs/state_factsheets.html

"what is it about American life that makes Americans want to take drugs?"

Props. I like how my fellow progressives here sneak in the attack on the very American 'way of life'. he he heh

[I say legalize all drugs, and tax the hell out of them.]

I say exterminate the idiot people that want to use drugs and develop drug problems making them cause violent crime to get the money to support their drug habits. And BTW, this is not ONLY AMERICANS people. You Yuro-peans and Canadians also are pretty into your stuff. Maybe even more than the average American. It's a way of life for you. You are the ones that cause Mexican hardship.

I have a new respect for the Mexican Navy doing some exterminating on one end. Now lets deal with the other end. And I'm not only talking about what America should do Yuros!

Good work for the Mexican navy! America needs to legalize all drug use in the USA so the Mexican, Colombian etc..narco-terrorists organizations can keep supllying the USA with out the violence and the help Americans pay TAXES on all these drugs.

lol you seem to have totally missed the point elbudmexicano. Read the above posts for more thoughtful perspective and absolute outcome of the situation. Remember the drug cartels were the ones that shot up a drug rehab center in mexico as well.

I'd say the problem with the desire for drugs is because people want to escape their reality, feel a "buzz" or get a fix. It doesn't matter if its alcohol, nicotine, MJ, etc.

Its all about feeling "good", and most people (world wide) want to feel good as much as possible. The pro pot smokers know thats true. Its no different that people that like to get drunk because in their minds it feels good to them. Smokers get a certain kick in their minds from getting their fix as well. All of it affects the body negatively in one way or another. Hard drugs are the same but are a much more drastic addiction because people get so used to their FIX.

People that have these issues need to think really hard as to why they do this.