Argentina To "get Tough" On Drug Trafficking

[ajoknoblauch]

With guns its the same, just like you have weed and hard-drugs, so you have guns and semi-automatic killing machines. You can regulate some part but at the same time recognize that a more extreme version of what you regalate goes too far

Nobody would think of letting unlicensed drivers on the highways in unlicensed cars. Not to say that it never happens, but I think even the most libertarian of us would find that idea absurd.

 

[EdRooney]

If memory serves, there is a legal concept that says that if you continue to do something that has obvious consequences that are different from your stated purpose, you are guilty of intending the obvious consequences to happen.

In this case it should be obvious that the intent of the War on Drugs is not to control the traffic and use of drugs. It should also be obvious that all of the people clamouring for a crackdown here (sweet Vishnu they were all over the tele today) have other goals besides reducing drug use in Argentina.

For example: remember when there were no monedas to be found anywhere, and a whole mafia developed around the change racket? Well there were some half-hearted efforts to put people in jail for hording them and charging extra, etc. etc. Finally, when everyone was thoroughly ticked off, the gov't finally stepped in and cut off the demand by taking the simple step of introducing the Sube card. Problem solved. And something they could have done from the get-go.

This is the logic they are following in Uruguay with (at least the pot aspect of) the drug mafias. Eliminate the supply scarcity and the problem disappears. The logic they follow in the US is lets just lock everybody up, especially the brown ones, and lets use this as an excuse to invade Colombia, Mexico and Bolivia. And of course the problem doesn't go away because it was not intended to.

For me it's so sad to see Argentines falling into the same stoopid trap.

 

[PhilipDT]

If they want to crack down on drugs they need to add some serious south east asia type penalties for both trafficking and consumption.

1 year jail or corporeal punishment for any illegal drug use, marijuana included.
Capital Punishment for trafficking

Thats the only way a drug war works, and it's managed to keep drug use in countries like singapore to an absolute minimum.

 

[Matiasba]

Capital punishment for trafficking?
1 year jail or corporeal punishment for smoking weed?

are you crazy?

 

[Jaredberryman]

I think penalizing someone heavily for using it is really harsh. Sometimes, all it takes is one time for a drug user to get hooked for life. Some drugs are so strong that they are amazingly addictive. So a person who succumbs to temptation just one time can be hooked for life.

However, I don't think the death penalty or life in prison (I for one am against the death penalty at the present moment) for those that deal is so harsh (maybe not for marijuana). Dealers are literally ruining people's lives in every way. They know exactly what they are doing. A dealer will be your best friend in the beginning, maybe even give it to your for little or free. Because he or she knows you will then be hooked, and you are a client forever. It's sort of like murder, except done more cruelly over time. Drugs are cruel and even torturous. They ruin your brain and take away your life. I would have no problem with life in prison for a dealer.

 

[Dublin2BuenosAires]

Forget about users and dealers, target the supply chain managers and the money. ....someone should translate The Wire into Spanish and force Berni and co to watch it. They are redefining incompetenent with every clumsy step. Of course they are dealing with a cross border business with clumsy corrupt local officials, even worse the FpV government rather pathetically is playing politics by blaming Binner for the problem and ignoring geographical factors and the cross border nature of this crime. I was dumbstruck by the petty blame game Berni was playing by claiming that some governors want the federal police to solve all their problems.

Is he really that stupid? Seriously?

It's like Banfield vs Barcelona at the minute....the good guys are Banfield.

 

[notebook.fix]

If they want to crack down on drugs they need to add some serious south east asia type penalties for both trafficking and consumption.

1 year jail or corporeal punishment for any illegal drug use, marijuana included.
Capital Punishment for trafficking

Thats the only way a drug war works, and it's managed to keep drug use in countries like singapore to an absolute minimum.

I've lived in Kings Cross Australia for more than 20 years and in that time I have seen the real life results on the streets of what drugs do to people, too many dead bodies, stabbings, shootings, robberies and not to mention the physical devastation of individuals as they progress in the addiction- the detrimental physical/mental damage that occurs...so my opinion is that I can understand what Phillip is pointing out, I may not agree with capital punishment for smoking dope but I can see why some Asian countries have gone down that route. I have also lived in Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Tokyo & other parts of Asia & I saw the results of tough drug laws.

The drug traffickers kill as many and are as deadly as any enemy in any war, with victims falling every minute, if taken in that context then the mathematics can make sense when you hang a drug trafficker, as harsh & inhumane as it may seem. I'm not saying I agree with capital punishment but I am saying that given the extreme danger of drugs to society, hard decisions need to be taken. I would first impose a state of emergency on the current Narco problem here & start from there, cause once this thing sets in EVERY one here will feel the full effects of the Narcos. From robberies and murder to total societal devastation, especially here.

Drugs can turn a harmless individual into a ticking time bomb...I'd rather not make it easy for the drugs to flow into the place.

 

[Matiasba]

I think the problem is not the supply but the demand. And demand has been increasing a lot in the last years. But, what can be done? If some people want some cocaine, they should be treated, but they have the freedom to do it. Probably the solution is, as everywhere, education.

I think marihuana should be legalised it. I dont consider it dangerous at all.

 

[notebook.fix]

but they have the freedom to do it. Probably the solution is, as everywhere, education.

YEs , they can have the freedom to hurt themselves but when they loose control of their own lives & get desperate for the next fix they don't have the right to come and put a knife or gun at your throat so that they can pay for it. An addicted individual will do anything to feed their habit & will not stop to consider anyone else's welfare.

And all those unfortunate & untreated mentally ill patients who are prone to drug taking? You don't want them to stumble across a dealer, trust me. They may have a predisposition to 'self medicating' and as soon as they do their first hit the snowball starts to roll downhill.

Education should start around the fact that there is a significant percentage (10% to 20%) of any population that is prone to serious drug addiction from birth, the question is how easy should it be for them to fall into the trap, cause in the end, we all pay for it.

 

[Matiasba]

YEs , they can have the freedom to hurt themselves but when they loose control of their own lives & get desperate for the next fix they don't have the right to come and put a knife or gun at your throat so that they can pay for it. An addicted individual will do anything to feed their habit & will not stop to consider anyone else's welfare.

And all those unfortunate & untreated mentally ill patients who are prone to drug taking? You don't want them to stumble across a dealer, trust me. They may have a predisposition to 'self medicating' and as soon as they do their first hit the snowball starts to roll downhill.

Education should start around the fact that there is a significant percentage (10% to 20%) of any population that is prone to serious drug addiction from birth, the question is how easy should it be for them to fall into the trap, cause in the end, we all pay for it.

the solution is a big presence from the State, not fighting against the drug dealers, but with the victims, treating them, educating them, giving the drugs as countries like Holland or Sweden (they have a problem with heroine) do. Subsidizing the demand, controlling the demand, and not the supply, treating them, assisting them, educating them. Thats the only solution I see. If you stop the demand you cancel the bussiness. But to that it has to be a HUGE State, with huge money to subsidize these policies.