Americans shouldn’t be buying illegal narcotics. No demand for narcotics makes the coast guard’s job a lot easier, and saves a lot of taxpayer dollars too.

Demand is the problem. Not supply. Where there is demand, there will be supply.

Well, until the time we legalize drugs, we have a lot of Coast Guardsmen, Customs and other agents out there on an increasingly violent front line.

They are not the ones making the policy but onto them falls the burden of enforcing the laws we have.

There is a demand for WMDs also…does that mean we should just throw up our arms and expect an attack. I agree the analogy of prohibition is correct but where do you draw the line? Weed, Cocaine, Meth, illegal migrants, WMD’s and money and arms going the opposite direction all very important problems.

Last week a man was shot in the head and killed by Mexican drug terrorists with his wife on the back seat…they are still looking for his body on Falcon Lake on the Texas/Mexico border. In my opinion the southern border needs crack troops and we need to be able to cross the border in pursuit. American citizens are being killed as a result of the lack of security presence. If you legalize pot there will still be threats coming from the south for other commodities which pose as much or more of a threat.

When our leaders ignore the problem (both sides) it grows and grows and now the whole country of Mexico is staring at collapse. We can either impose a strict border or we can face the consequence of a failed state on our southern border which might require a much more robust intervention in the future. Any solution that fails to secure the border for the future is NO solution at all. It would also help if the powers that be would stop blaming our second amendment and give the Mexicans a second amendment ability to own and bear arms for the sake of their own protection. The Mexican govt is obviosly not doing it…put the security of the people in their own hands.

I think the easiest way is to increase the penalty for those convicted of illegal substance abuse, especially for recreational purposes. They are financing Al Qaeda and should face a punishment in line with that of treason…albeit a more lenient punishment. They should also be required to pay fines to reimburse the DoD and Coast Guard for their increased operational costs incurred from their drug interdiction duties.

Chuck, I understand your argument and would’ve agreed with you 5 yrs ago. Unfortunately and with all due respect it is more theory than practical.

Have you been to the border in the last few yrs.?

I think mandatory testing in schools is a great idea. Cheaper than increased coast guard operations.

Or we convince the addicts within North America to stop using illegal drugs. That would really convince the cartels to stop trying.

All such ideas need political support from within the communities. Funding must be addressed and assured. Any big change will rattle and possibly break many Tea Cups. The border might be properly policed with an Infantry Brigade rotated from within the entire US Army. Call it training. Bonus would be some assurance that bad guys from mid=east aren’t walking across with impunity. Lots of good ideas. IMHO no single one will get the job done. First there must be determined leadership coupled with a realization that the present situation is just not acceptable.

Matt Yankee Said, “No single solution is going to “solve” the drug problem and not even the best 100 solutions will competely do the job. But we can do a whole lot better.”

A lot of the problem is that we are trying “100 solutions” and doing none of them particularly well, resulting in little more than annoying all the parts of the drug distribution network but eliminating no particular link.

No matter how the product is imported or produced, it has to go through the dealer on the street. The dealer is the most exposed and the most visible element in the distribution chain and the participant upon whom we can impose the most risk for the smallest reward. That makes the dealer the right place to concentrate our efforts.

In the case of the cartels the head is the most easily and readily replaceable part. Everyone wants that job.

And if the addicts don’t have the funds available (which will probably almost always be the case), they can make it up with community service, at minimum wage, in their off hours.

Chuck I don’t understand, exactly how are the dealers going to be identified?

I strogly suspect the dealers span the full spectrum of types of individuals all seeking profit and dealing mostly in cash. Drug dealers do not fit a cookie cutter profile. The more successful ones moving the bulk of the product might even be living in the best side of town and have a low profile…very hard to know for certain.

Even if they were identified they would have to be rounded up within a short period of time so as to cause a real break in the chain which is how many thousands of operations? Law enforcement does not have the capability to surge forces to make these arrests all over the map but the military does have the ability to surge forces to the border.

If all the dealers had to go to a geographic choke point wouldn’t that be where to wait for them? Isn’t that place the border?

Chuck, you referred earlier to the Coast Guard intercepting only 15% of the vessels being used for transport. It is my understanding the smaller vessels are delivering the product to the Mexican coast where it is then taken over the border by land (DEA website).

The majority of the drugs come over land…the border is the choke point and thus the “head”. And it should be being protected regardless so it is good policy to focus on the border…and again the kids are going to need to pee in a cup…LOL.

I would rather give everyone drug tests than arrest and imprison otherwise honest people. I believe your average Joe will behave much differently if he knows he’s being watched. It’s the old trust but verify principle. Banks enforce an active overwatch of their employees which has real positive effects as opposed to waiting till a bank can’t pay back people’s deposits and then closing the bank and sending the employees to prison. Most people are honest but they are even more honest when they know there is someone that is watching them. Our kids need this and the border needs this. How would you expect your kids to turn out if you believed every word they said over a telephone and never checked on them once? Don’t tell me your kids are perfect either…LOL.