Massachusetts Daily Collegian

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A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

Massachusetts Daily Collegian

A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

Massachusetts Daily Collegian

Should we really legalize marijuana?

MCT
MCT

In just over a week’s time, thousands of people across Massachusetts will be taking time out of their day to find a nearby polling station, to cast their vote in the 2012 presidential election. There will be a few things on their minds, namely, who should be the next president of the United States. But there is another pressing issue concerning many residents of Massachusetts.

Question 3 on the state ballot will determine whether marijuana ought to be legalized for medical purposes. If passed, it would be a significant step towards total legalization of marijuana for recreational use.

However, before we can even talk about the legalization of marijuana, the question must be asked; is it a good idea to legalize it?

The short answer is no. The legalization of marijuana would not bring about the changes we desire.

Currently, there is a war going on south of the U.S. border. It is between the Mexican government, and the powerful drug cartels that dominate almost all of Mexico. This war has been going on for several decades, but the United States has only been actively involved since the 1980s. Recently, the violence has escalated.

President Felipe Calderón was elected in the year 2006. He promised a hard line against the drug cartels, who, through corruption, extortion, terrorism and murder, effectively operate within the Mexican border.

The war between the Mexican government and the cartels has led to approximately 48,000 deaths, including more than 5,000 disappearances, and thousands and thousands of children orphaned and displaced. The cartels have spawned mass graves, terrorist acts and continue to buy illegal assault weapons and ship their drugs to the United States. More than 100 schools have been closed in Mexico as a result of the violence, as well as entire police forces deserting, under threat of death by the cartels.

The Chihuahua province, just south of the U.S.-Mexican border, is currently more dangerous than all of Afghanistan. The violence has spilled over the border. Cartels recruit young aged children in Mexico and in the U.S. for drug-related activity, such as the case of “El Ponchis” (The Cloak) where a 14-year-old American, from San Diego, was convicted for the beheading and torturing of four people for a cartel.

The cartels receive their money to perpetuate this war, as you probably guessed, from the sale and export of drugs to the U.S. The cartels make approximately $39 billion annually from drug sales into the U.S. Currently, 90 percent of the illicit drugs in the United States have made their way in through Mexico.

In 2007, the Congressional Research Service released a report to Congress stating that more than 10,000 metric tons of marijuana were being produced in Mexico per year, with about 2,900 metric tons of it being intercepted. This means that the cartels manage to smuggle in over 7,000 metric tons of marijuana a year.

Not only this, but the cartels also manage to produce upwards of 275 metric tons of cocaine, and 19 metric tons of heroin for export into the U.S. per year. Seizures of methamphetamine has also increased five-fold from the year 2000 to 2006, prompting evidence that production has also increased drastically.

So, how does this all relate? Well, here in the United States, millions of people smoke, or have smoked, marijuana. More than 42 percent of high school seniors have reported smoking marijuana. The American people provide a steady flow of income for the cartels who are terrorists and mass murderers.

For example, one kilogram of cocaine costs at little as $2,000 to produce south of the U.S-Mexican border. However, it sells for up to $120,000, depending on the location. Some may argue that, should marijuana be legalized, it would reduce the market share of the cartels, which would result in them making less money. But would this really happen?

If Congress moved to legalize marijuana, then certainly they would demand that marijuana be grown in facilities either run by, or regulated by the government. Not only this, but the production distribution, packaging, and retail of marijuana would all be heavily regulated and taxed. The farmers growing the marijuana would most likely be unionized and at a minimum be paid well and have health benefits.

All of these factors would drive up the cost of legal marijuana, far past the cost of nearly free labor to grow the plant in Mexico, and whatever prices the dealers charge locally. Though the cartels would not have any standing in the legal market, they would continue to completely dominate the black market. If people already purchase marijuana illegally, why would they purchase more expensive marijuana that is legal?

These cartels are pushing millions of people out of Mexico, causing them to flee the violence into the United States. These groups of murderers and terrorists need to be brought to justice first. If we can successfully crush the drug cartels, who are creating havoc in Mexico, and killing and endangering America citizens and officers near the border, then, we can talk about legalizing marijuana.

Victor Paduchak is a Collegian columnist. He can be reached at [email protected].

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  • H

    hmNov 4, 2012 at 2:36 am

    dan, thank you.

    Reply
  • D

    DanNov 2, 2012 at 1:31 pm

    I have a feeling this article is just here to troll us. It is written so poorly and so illogically it must exist to get us riled up, so that we would go out and vote for medical. He might be a genius stoner, guys.

    /conspiracy theory

    Reply
  • H

    hmNov 2, 2012 at 11:18 am

    victor, it’s pretty ridiculous that you tried to ‘predict the consequences’ of medical marijuana when it’s been legal in several states for years. DO YOUR RESEARCH! editorial board, i know this is a school paper but you really ought to remind your writers about having SOME standards.

    Reply
  • B

    billzNov 2, 2012 at 11:15 am

    I say legalize it. More job security for me.

    Reply
  • A

    AlumNov 1, 2012 at 6:12 pm

    the number one donor trying to keep marijuana illegal in california has been traced to cartels in tijuana. a nation-wide decriminalization would, in fact, destroy the black market of the worlds largest cash crop. marijuana in massachusetts mostly comes from locals, CA, VT, and canada… once you get south of maryland, then it gets in to mexican territory. will question 3 end mexico’s war, no. will it influence other states to adopt this change, yes. massachusetts is nowhere near the first states to adopt such laws. montana, alaska, colorado, california, etc. all have something similar.

    but it mostly protects the average citizen from a trumped up drug charge for smoking a joint. the largest underground market in the country [and the world] is illegal cigarettes, and i can still go to a store and buy ’em legally..

    Reply
  • S

    StudentNov 1, 2012 at 1:22 pm

    The difference between other pain drugs and medical marijuana is that I don’t have to take the Vicodin with you just because I’m your neighbor…

    Reply
  • C

    Clifford SchafferOct 31, 2012 at 10:02 pm

    OK, Victor, so far there are 27 comments, not one agrees with you and many rip your arguments apart. What’s the problem here?

    First, if you would have looked up this topic in other discussion forums on the Internet, you would have discovered that no one from your side has won a debate since before you were born. Even the major prohibitionist organizations admit that they have completely lost the debate on the internet.

    Second, you didn’t take Drug Policy 101. In short, you simply don’t know anything about the subject. So let’s correct that. Here are your reading assignments:

    The short history of the marijuana laws at http://druglibrary.org/schaffer/History/whiteb1.htm This is funny and fascinating, and not what you expected. Read through it and tell us when these laws were anything but absolute lunacy.

    Then read Licit and Illicit Drugs at http://druglibrary.org/schaffer/Library/studies/cu/cumenu.htm This has been used as basic college textbook since before your parents were in college.

    The Drug Hang-Up at http://druglibrary.org/special/king/dhu/dhumenu.htm This is another excellent history of the subject. It will give you some idea of how badly you have been bamboozled.

    “Marihuana, A Signal of Misunderstanding,” the report of the US National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse at http://druglibrary.org/schaffer/Library/studies/nc/ncmenu.htm This is the largest study of the subject ever done by the US Government.

    Then, see Major Studies of Drugs and Drug Policy at http://druglibrary.org/schaffer That is a collection of the full text of every major government commission on drugs from around the world over the last 100 years. Just a hint: Not one of them agrees with you.

    Get back to us when you can discuss the basic research and we can have a real conversation. Until then, don’t embarrass yourself any further.

    Reply
  • M

    MikeOct 31, 2012 at 8:39 pm

    I’ve never touched weed in my life, but this article is ridiculous. Look at what alcohol prohibition did. Certainly nothing good. Prohibition in no way reduces crime.

    Reply
  • S

    SamOct 31, 2012 at 7:34 pm

    You spent three fourths of the article talking about why cartels are bad. Good job proving what doesn’t need to be proven.

    Then you get to your main arguement: “If Congress moved to legalize marijuana, then certainly they would demand that marijuana be grown in facilities either run by, or regulated by the government.”

    This is a false assumption.

    “If people already purchase marijuana illegally, why would they purchase more expensive marijuana that is legal?”

    This is a false assumption.
    You never provided any facts surrounding this question, which is the main point of your essay. That’s probably why you included so much fluff in the beginning.

    When marijuana is legal:
    A. I can grow it myself.
    B. All my friends will grow it themselves
    C. Everyone will grow it themselves and begin to take pride in their growing abilities. It’s like gardening.
    D. This is like saying that people will only buy moonshine even though alcohol is legal.
    E. Most people would buy rather buy legal weed from a store
    F. Corporations can grow massive amounts and ship it around the country without fear of getting caught. Do you have any idea what that will do to the price? Marijuana costs about 5 cents a gram to grow, probably less if it is done in bulk.
    G. An ounce of tobacco is five dollars. Id be surprised if an ounce costs more then 50$ when it is legal.

    Reply
  • P

    Phil DeBowlOct 31, 2012 at 11:26 am

    What kind of Moron reads the History of cannabis,understands how it became prohibited,knows the record of the failed” War on Drugs©”. and then proposes that we just need to Kill more people to get control of MJ. If you want control of MJ,then you had better take control and that means license and regulate.

    Reply
  • J

    JonOct 31, 2012 at 12:28 am

    I think I just lost eight IQ points after reading this.

    Reply
  • B

    BrianOct 30, 2012 at 11:41 pm

    I’m sorry, I just don’t see your point. If you can’t take the time to read your history, at least watch a historical documentary.

    Reply
  • R

    RyanOct 30, 2012 at 8:38 pm

    This is absolutely the most rediculous argument against cannabis legalization that I have ever heard. Prohibition is inflating the price of marijuana drasticly. The cost of growing marijuana would PLUMET if it could be grown legally on US farms. Cartel “dirt weed” is also of notoriusly poor quality. The entire market for this artificially expensive, inferior product would collaps on day one that legal tax-paying American businesses could began to produce and sell cannabis. Marijuana legalization would take a significant amount of revenue away from the cartels.

    You should seriously consider Googleing “black market economics” or “legal marijuana price estimate” and then writing an article that isn’t extremely misleading and completely ignorant.

    Reply
  • M

    Mikey MikeOct 30, 2012 at 6:20 pm

    Question for the author. Do you even read these comments? It is striking to me that many articles don’t generate many comments, and the ones that do, political articles any way, tend to generate a balance of both sides weighing in. Not cannabis articles; they always have comments, and almost all comments are in favor of cannabis. To me this is striking. You cant assume all the posters are pot heads; I mean they seem to be well written and concise about the subject. It must pain you sir to see so many opposing views attributed to your views. A bit like pissing in the wind I would imagine. Do the insiders, IE the prohibitionist authors, have any feelings on this? Do you folks chalk it up to stoners, and just discount the comments? Do you even read the comments? You know I would think if there was a strong prohibitionist feeling in the general public, you might see more prohibitionist comments, but you don’t. You see a few here and there, but noting with any substance. If you could answer my question, that would be great. I’ll be holding my breath.

    Reply
  • B

    BenOct 30, 2012 at 2:43 pm

    You laid out a fine case for why marijuana should be legalized, and then suddenly tried to claim that it all indicated the opposite. Truly bizarre.

    Anyway,
    > If people already purchase marijuana illegally, why would they purchase more expensive marijuana that is legal?

    Because many people don’t like doing things that are illegal? Because the people that the ballot question (which you seem to have forgotten about after your second paragraph) actually relates to are people who are sick, and your ailing grandmother might not have the same dealer connections you do? Because they want to make sure that they’re actually getting what they’re paying for and not something else?

    I mean, I’m granting you an assumption here about cost that plenty of other people will gladly (and rightly) dispute, but even then you don’t seem to have considered the obvious answers to your rhetorical question.

    Reply
  • J

    Jason PetersonOct 30, 2012 at 2:15 pm

    Your argument is completely inaccurate. Research alcohol prohibition and how it increased the strength of organized crime. Regulation puts the money and power into licensed and regulated businesses. If you listened to intelligent experts (economists, law enforcement, healthcare), they agree that legalization with regulation will only be good.

    Do your homework and use facts when writing your opinions and you won’t look like a stupid person as often. -cheers!

    Reply
  • D

    DarrenOct 30, 2012 at 1:22 pm

    In order to crush the cartels you have to start by taking away a large majority of their profits, which happens to be marijuana. Next, we need to slowly transition to a strict system of regulation for other illicit drugs, at least give addicts a safe place to use and get help at the same time.

    How are the cartels going to be destroyed if our government continuously support policies that give them billions of dollars? You can’t just say “when the cartels are crushed then we can legalize,” it doesn’t work like that. Their whole existence is due to our prohibition policies, we should at least try a different approach to marijuana laws.

    Felipe Calderón has stated multiple times that the United States needs “market alternatives” to the current drug war, which means regulation and taxation of marijuana and other illicit substances. Violence in his country is mostly due to fighting for control of the drug trade in the US, Mexico has suffered enough attempting to reach this unattainable goal that the federal government has forced upon them. Now it’s our turn to heed their advice and work with them and other countries to end this terrible war on drug users.

    Reply
  • E

    electedfaceOct 30, 2012 at 12:37 pm

    Estimates show that marijuana is America’s number one cash crop. However, marijuana remains untaxed. This is a new source of income for our nation, an income we desperately need.

    Over 500 of the nation’s top economic professors have shared their opinion in supporting the removing the prohibition and imposing the taxation and regulation of marijuana as a way to slow the federal deficit.

    Ending marijuana prohibition would save the US $7.7 BILLION annually. That is nearly as much as Congress’ proposed Budget Control Act. Think of the jobs it would create, the court time I would save and the jail space it would free up for actual criminals.

    Sign the petition below. Also, create a group, this will connect every member directly to their elected officials.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_tUy6fylQs

    Reply
  • A

    Allen St. PierreOct 30, 2012 at 11:48 am

    Mr. Paduchak, in trying to argue that cannabis should not be legalized in America, instead, makes a strong case for legalization, notably in citing the results of America’s war on some drugs (we don’t really have a war on ‘drugs’…) in Mexico.

    According to Gallup polling, with 50% of the US now supporting ending the failed seventy-five year cannabis prohibition–with over 60% of Massachusetts citizens supporting outright legalization according to MassCANN/NORML polling–Mr. Paduchak appears to be on the wrong side of the free market and public opinion.

    Voters in the Commonwealth are surely going to pass a medical access to cannabis initiative next week; in a few years they’ll be asked to legalize cannabis.

    Regarding Mexico and their President Calderon, maybe Mr. Paduchak didn’t check the ‘intertubes’ before penning his column because Mexico’s president (along with current and former presidents and prime ministers all through out central and south America) certainly seems ready to go the route of regulation-n-taxation, as compared to seemingly never abating death-n-destruction.

    See Calderon remarks and coverage from late September:
    http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/calderon-hints-at-drug-legalization-again/

    Five College Area students, notably at UMass, consume a lot of Mexican made beer like Corona. Are they part of an international crime problem, or just part of free trade in our hemisphere? What is the clear lesson here? When an otherwise safe and popular substance is made illegal, legal and international havoc can ensue. Are there really any legal or international problems created by the regulated and taxed sales of Mexican beers in America? Or for that matter Belgian or German beers?

    The same can be said of legal cannabis cultivated and exported to the US.

    Isn’t this obvious?

    Allen St. Pierre
    Executive Director
    NORML
    Washington, D.C.
    Legal Studies, 1989

    Reply
  • B

    BigJohnOct 30, 2012 at 11:37 am

    “All of these factors would drive up the cost of legal marijuana, far past the cost of nearly free labor to grow the plant in Mexico, and whatever prices the dealers charge locally…”

    This is just wrong. The only reason marijuana is so expensive is because it is illegal. What does tobacco cost wholesale? In large bulk purchases it’s something like three or four bucks a pound. Marijuana produced here wouldn’t be that much more expensive before all the taxes, regulatory costs, coporate profits, etc.

    Do you think pot is almost free in Mexico? From what I’ve read cartels are paying somewhere between $25 and $50 a pound. Our farmers will be able to produce it for less than that. Did you know that there are many agricultural products that we produce cheaper than Mexican farmers can produce them? That’s one of the reasons we have so many illegal aliens from Mexico. With NAFTA allowing our farmers to compete in the Mexican market there are whole farming areas where Mexican farmers have pretty much given up because our products sell for less than what it costs them to produce them. Our farmers are miracle workers, producing per acre yields of plants like corn that were unheard of 100 years ago.

    Mexican farmers really can’t compete, and they aren’t going to be able to compete when it comes to marijuana either. Their product is inferior, and it has a bad name. It’s cheap seedy garbage and will likely always be considered second rate, even if they improve it. No one is going to want to buy it, and they certainly aren’t going to want to buy lousy Mexican brickweed from drug dealers if they can go into a nice clean shop and select from a wide variety of quality product at reasonable prices, product produced by tax paying Americans in a regulated environment.

    This argument you are making is about as lame as the argument that everyone would grow their own. If everyone would grow their own if they could then why do medical marijuana dispensaries do such gangbusters business selling super expensive pot to people with medical marijuana cards who could just grow their own at home without fear of arrest?

    Reply
  • P

    Phil DeBowlOct 30, 2012 at 11:34 am

    What Nonsense,the author of this opinion argues to maintain the failed “War on Drugs©”,like That has had ANY success.. . . maybe we just need to kill more people seems to be His answer.Ending the Prohibition of cannabis will take the market away from the cartels,just as the end of alcohol prohibition put an end to the alcohol Black market.
    Cannabis should be legal for any adult to grow their own.

    Reply
  • A

    amazed readerOct 30, 2012 at 11:22 am

    Did you write the scenes for Refer Madness? Victor your claims have no merit. Legalization will not drive up price. Prohibition is what the cartels want so the money goes south to Mexico. The drug cartel gangs, the Zeta comes to mind. Kill each other to protect their profits. If we legalize, grow it here and quit sending our money south…. um they have no money to wage their wars. Also more than 50% of the illegal marijuana is being grown in state parks in California, houses in humboldt, etc. The cartel is here sir!

    So if legalization is not the answer what is? More money for the “war on drugs”. Laughable. Marijuana use has gone up every year during prohibition. In Colorado where medical and decriminalization laws have passed teen usage declined 11%. During that same time states where marijuana is illegal increased.

    Did you know that 50% of all marijuana arrests are for simple possession of less than 30 grams? Did you know that most grow ops busted are for a few single plants for personal usage? So your saying it’s a good idea too keep cannabis illegal so we can imprison our citizens for a choice they make that hurts no one, and has not been scientifically proven to cause medical maladies to the user.

    This is about freedom of choice. quit your scaremongering and get educated on the facts instead of pushing out some drivel you call an article.

    Reply
  • K

    kevin huntOct 30, 2012 at 10:43 am

    “All of these factors would drive up the cost of legal marijuana,”

    This statement is patently false. In Colorado, the 2012 price of an ounce is half of what it was in 2008, before the dispensaries opened. Nobody in Colorado buys mexican brick schwag anymore. That lousy Mexican stuff is only used in states where growing your own is illegal.

    ” If we can successfully crush the drug cartels, ” We can’t and we never will, because the cartels will always have more money than the cops and they will always bribe the cops. We have cartel spies working for our border patrol.

    Obviously, Victor never studied alcohol prohibition, so he doesn’t know that marijuana prohibition will never work. Does Victor think that we should have only repealed alcohol prohibition after we caught all of the bootleggers? We would still have alcohol prohibition AND bootleggers if that was the case.

    Quoting George Schultz: “For 40 years now, our nation’s approach has been to criminalize the entire process of producing, transporting, selling and using drugs, with the exception of tobacco and alcohol. Our judgment, shared by other members of the commission, is that this approach has not worked, just as our national experiment with the prohibition of alcohol failed.”

    Source: A Real Debate About Drug Policy By George P. Schultz And Paul A. Volcker

    George Schultz served as the United States Secretary of Labor and the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury under Nixon, and as the U.S. Secretary of State under Reagan.

    Reply
  • F

    Fact CheckOct 30, 2012 at 10:43 am

    I don’t agree with this article. First thing that threw me is what you value a kilo of cocaine. I don’t know where you got your figures from, but a gram of cocaine sold on the street is usually worth $80 or so. That’s $80,000 / kilo. Also, I have never, ever encountered Mexican weed – despite it being cheap, nobody wants to smoke it anyway, for the quality is absolutely awful. The majority of the stuff that goes around in MA is either homegrown locally (i.e. in New England), or is medicinal quality weed smuggled from legal states.

    Reply
  • J

    Joel SimmonsOct 30, 2012 at 10:23 am

    If i have to pay a couple more dollars for a bag of weed knowing that some innocent person wasn’t abused, I’ll pay the other couple of dollars.

    Reply
  • M

    MikiOct 30, 2012 at 10:10 am

    “If Congress moved to legalize marijuana, then certainly they would demand that marijuana be grown in facilities either run by, or regulated by the government. Not only this, but the production distribution, packaging, and retail of marijuana would all be heavily regulated and taxed. The farmers growing the marijuana would most likely be unionized and at a minimum be paid well and have health benefits.”

    That is just so ridiculous it’s laughable.

    Reply
  • R

    Rob millerOct 30, 2012 at 9:53 am

    You reilize your completely false. The drug cartel has nothing to do with legalization of medical marijuana. If anything they are on the same page as you in wanting to keep it illegal. You should look at facts before you start makeing false accusations that you can’t even BS an excuse to back it up. Why don’t you go home and crack open a nice cold one you hypocrite

    Reply
  • M

    MarkE1970Oct 30, 2012 at 9:35 am

    Question 3 is about medical marijuana on the state level. It has nothing to do with congress legalizing marijuana on the federal level for everyone to use. Please stick to the issue people are voting on and stop trying to hype things up and play dirty politics to get people to vote a certain way.

    As for prices. Medical marijuana costs about the same in every state that has legalized it as it does on the black market. Next time do your homework first. Legalizing it for medical needs hasn’t and doesn’t increase the prices the consumers even when it’s taxed (which it is in certain states).

    Reply
  • J

    JasonOct 30, 2012 at 9:27 am

    First of all this law is about medical marijuana…not legalization outright. So lets not over exaggerate and get off topic.

    2nd. What the author in this article says is 100% false. In numerous cities, states, and countries across the world we’ve seen when marijuana laws are relaxed violent crime associated with it GOES DOWN…not up. The author is trying to scare people into allowing sick people to use a medicine their doctor recommends on the baseline of violence, violence that is only caused by prohibition.

    Even the author mentions that the violence in mexico has spiked recently….do you know when it spiked? It spiked when the president of mexico decided to take a hard stance approach and try to treat a health/social issue with guns and prison.

    As far as the prices go…. people have used the same argument in virtually all 17 states that have legalized medical marijuana over the last 16 years. And in all those states prices have stayed the same. In some cases its gone up and in some its gone down, but patients now have the option of choosing different prices and a variety of marijuana from medical outlets instead of buying from gang bangers and criminals. In California 16 years ago an 8th of marijuana cost about $40-60…after 16 years of medical marijuana an 8th of quality medical marijuana still costs about $40-60

    Bottom line is prohibition is what causes violence when it comes to people using a substance for recreational or medical reasons. But aside from that try to remember that we are talking about sick people here, and their right not to face prison time for using a medicine their doctor prescribes.

    Please stop with the fear mongering and false information

    Vote yes on Question 30

    Reply
  • M

    Mathew EitelOct 30, 2012 at 9:12 am

    https://dailycollegian.com/2012/10/30/should-we-really-legalize-marijuana/

    You have no idea what you are talking about, I assume you have some kind of agenda.. or are terrible at research.

    Reply
  • C

    Charles BlackOct 30, 2012 at 9:06 am

    I always like a little light humor with my morning news. Your analysis of what would happen to the price once legalized goes against every prediction I’ve ever read. After readying this, I was left wondering whether or not it was a spoof piece.

    Reply
  • I

    It's Time!Oct 30, 2012 at 8:22 am

    Legalize Nationwide and Vote YES on every every marijuana legalization bill!

    Reply
  • G

    Gustavo PicciutoOct 30, 2012 at 7:50 am

    “…If we can successfully crush the drug cartels, who are creating havoc in Mexico, and killing and endangering America citizens and officers near the border, then, we can talk about legalizing marijuana…”

    The answer to the question is in your own statement. By legalizing Marijuana we would crush the cartels. People WILL pay for more expensive Marijuana if it means piece of mind; I can tell you by experience. People would much rather pay double if it means not having to meet a guy in a dark alley somewhere where you might get shot and/or robbed. Also people would prefer it because you would be able to know the strain, the potency, how it was grown (organically or not) and a list of details that you will never know from the weed you buy from the streets and that weighs a lot more than dollars and cents for most people. We have been trying to fight the cartels for YEARS and YEARS without any real progress; it’s time to take a different approach and attack them monetarily and bleed them of their main income by legalizing Marijuana and having control of the market in OUR hands.

    Reply
  • J

    JamieOct 30, 2012 at 7:47 am

    The best way to eliminate the need for the cartels, is for the citizens of Massachusetts to grow the medicine themselves. If the medical marijuana patients and caregivers provide for themselves, the money used for the medicine will stay in state instead of going back to Mexico. The best way to eliminate the problem, is to remove the demand for Mexican cartel produced medicine by local participants in the medical marijuana program, producing better and more diverse alternatives, and shifting demand to the emerging industry providing locally grown medicine.

    Vote for medical marijuana to help people with various medical conditions, creat jobs and opportunities with ancillary businesses, remove the need for the Cartels, and contribute to economic development in the local economies. Vote Yes!

    Reply
  • R

    rfOct 30, 2012 at 6:33 am

    This article is ridiculous. The reason for the violence in Central America and the existence of the cartels is our failed drug policy. Legalizing marijuana would deal a great blow to the cartels. Marijuana, and other drugs, are expensive because they are illegal. Remove the illegality, and prices will plummet, putting the cartels out of business. We’ve tried prohibition before, and now we have organized crime to thank for it. Prohibition has never and will never be the answer.

    Reply
  • M

    MarkOct 30, 2012 at 6:19 am

    I’m sorry if I fail to see the hypothetical, oft-repeated (parroted) statement that somehow, legalization of medical marijuana is “…a significant step towards total legalization of marijuana for recreational use.”

    I notice that methamphetamine, cocaine, barbiturates and oxycodone are legal for medicinal use, but I don’t see any clamor to legalize them for “recreational use”, nor see any legislative or referendum action to legalize them for such purposes.

    Of course, if marijuana were truly “legalized” for medical use, and clinical and scientific studies could be done in the US, then people would find no reason not to legalize it.

    When people use a substance, whether it’s nicotine, alcohol, caffeine, marijuana, or any of a myriad of socially acceptable intoxicants, one has to realize that it isn’t “recreational use,” but some form of self-medication. That is to say these people have some sort of psychological or medical condition they are trying to treat. If we look at it in this realistic view, maybe all-out legal marijuana isn’t such bad thing.

    Reply