Evo : ILLegal Coca growth vs/ legal Medical Marijuana use in the U.S.A.

[Pete Dula]

Marijuana is a very popular drug in America, widely available and tolerated in California, Oregon and even former presidents such as Clinton happily admit to have used it in the past. Marijuana use is increasingly being legalized by local jurisdictions yet the HYPOCRICY once again of U..S..A war on drugs is that it critizises EVO for allowing peasants growth of Coca while allowing complacency when it comes to marijuana. A clear cut example of hypocricy but once again my point that drug trafficking and and capitalism go hand in hand nicely.

[James Callahan]

The isssue of drugs is a serious matter is not only a national but increasingly an international problem that it threatens the foundations of democracy. Democracy in Mexico is currently under threat given the fact that drug trafficking has become so widespread in the upper levels of the policie, government, so if the police and judges are involved somehow who do you trust in the end?

[poop]

poop

[eyes w o]

Pete Dula wrote:

Marijuana is a very popular drug in America, widely available and tolerated in California, Oregon and even former presidents such as Clinton happily admit to have used it in the past. Marijuana use is increasingly being legalized by local jurisdictions yet the HYPOCRICY once again of U..S..A war on drugs is that it critizises EVO for allowing peasants growth of Coca while allowing complacency when it comes to marijuana. A clear cut example of hypocricy but once again my point that drug trafficking and and capitalism go hand in hand nicely.

Legislation is writen to protect citizens.
The harmful effects of Cocaine are too serious; legalizing it would hurt many.
The peasants in Bolivia are not using Coca leaves for tea or
to control hunger pains anymore.
We are all paying the consequences witnessing the increase of violent drug cartels now.
The stronger they get, the harder it will be to control them and basically the cultivation Coca leaf for substantial profits is to blame.

[Richard Perle]

Cocaine production is tied to two things:

demand for these drugs from a drug culture such as the U.S., and the supply of Sulfuric Acid and other chemicals which are not made in bolivia or the third world. How about telling some of the american chemical companies which produce chemicals which are used in cocaine production that they SHOuld CURB down their chemical production at these plants?
And how about doing something about a culture and media which popularizes drug use in america while condemning some peasants who have been growing coca for the last two thousand years?
Here in the U.S. the popular culture, movies, ads and even television popularizes drug use or marijuana, heroin cocaine, songs, the grateful dead, et etc etc,., well why doesnt the american society really so something about it. Drugs in america are also part of the economy, lawyers, drug rehab centers and bondsmen,e tc all MAKE money from drug use one way or another so drugs in america help the economy too, unfortunately but this is how capitalism works. You pay lip service and CASH in on these societal ills. How hypocritical and cheap at this rate drugs will not go away. The worse is when some people who use marijuana have still the travesty to tell some poor peasants not grow coca leaves because their growth aparently is supposedly doing harm to a drug culture. Amen. hypocricy is cheap and does not good but to dimish credibility, it puts forth more obstacles than really solve the drug problem.

[Jen in Trinidad]

Richard Perle wrote:

Cocaine production is tied to two things:
demand for these drugs from a drug culture such as the U.S., and the supply of Sulfuric Acid and other chemicals which are not made in bolivia or the third world. How about telling some of the american chemical companies which produce chemicals which are used in cocaine production that they SHOuld CURB down their chemical production at these plants?
And how about doing something about a culture and media which popularizes drug use in america while condemning some peasants who have been growing coca for the last two thousand years?
Here in the U.S. the popular culture, movies, ads and even television popularizes drug use or marijuana, heroin cocaine, songs, the grateful dead, et etc etc,., well why doesnt the american society really so something about it. Drugs in america are also part of the economy, lawyers, drug rehab centers and bondsmen,e tc all MAKE money from drug use one way or another so drugs in america help the economy too, unfortunately but this is how capitalism works. You pay lip service and CASH in on these societal ills. How hypocritical and cheap at this rate drugs will not go away. The worse is when some people who use marijuana have still the travesty to tell some poor peasants not grow coca leaves because their growth aparently is supposedly doing harm to a drug culture. Amen. hypocricy is cheap and does not good but to dimish credibility, it puts forth more obstacles than really solve the drug problem.

I totally agree - OK about 90% agree and here's why. Where there is demand there will be supply and the US would do well to work on curbing demand before judging where the supply comes from. Although I would venture to say that Europe has a large and growingly demanding population as well, especially in places where it is actually legal to consume.

However, I would also venture to say that at this point it the problem has become so big, so violent and so threatening, that work must be done equally at both ends now without any more finger pointing (which at this point benefits no one). It's OK to say that poor Bolivian peasants should not be blamed for producing something there is a demand for - but let me just say this.

The "poor" Bolivian coca growing peasants know full well what their coca is being used for and they know full well it causes addiction, disease and death.

I grew up dirt poor and my parents still instilled in me a sense of what is right and what is wrong and our income (or lack of it) was never used as a justification for doing wrong.

[Pete Dula]

Alcohol abuse and tobbaco kill much more people than other drugs combined yet society or at least the politicians does not seem to care about it and just seem to go along, yet but only seem to care about cocaine deaths...I wonder why.....maybe because of deep economic interests of american companies in the alcohol and tobacco business? perhaps? As long as something becomes deeply entrenched it no longer becomes an issue yet as something as far away as a poor peasant planting coca leaves suddlently becomes so important. There is certainly politics at all levels and money interests with a huge dose of hypocrycy when it comes to the issue of drugs, war on drugs etc., it is a big joke unfortunately no one is serious enough to solve the problem because one way or another the legal and judicial systems and the economy benefits from illegal drugs, i would say much much more than a peasant simply planting coca leaves in the andes. Indirectly the peasants who plant coca in bolivia are actually beneficial in the end to the huge money interests in the judicial, prison, legal and systems which also profit from illegal drugs. A drug addict is a patient and unfortunately, for some people the fact that drug addicts and drug dealers get caught pays their bills.

[eyes w o]

Pete Dula wrote:

Alcohol abuse and tobbaco kill much more people than other drugs combined yet society or at least the politicians does not seem to care about it and just seem to go along, yet but only seem to care about cocaine deaths...I wonder why.....maybe because of deep economic interests of american companies in the alcohol and tobacco business? perhaps? As long as something becomes deeply entrenched it no longer becomes an issue yet as something as far away as a poor peasant planting coca leaves suddlently becomes so important. There is certainly politics at all levels and money interests with a huge dose of hypocrycy when it comes to the issue of drugs, war on drugs etc., it is a big joke unfortunately no one is serious enough to solve the problem because one way or another the legal and judicial systems and the economy benefits from illegal drugs, i would say much much more than a peasant simply planting coca leaves in the andes. Indirectly the peasants who plant coca in bolivia are actually beneficial in the end to the huge money interests in the judicial, prison, legal and systems which also profit from illegal drugs. A drug addict is a patient and unfortunately, for some people the fact that drug addicts and drug dealers get caught pays their bills.

Maybe..... because drug cartels are getting REAL violent south of the border. They have the money to buy very expensive machinery.
People are being beheaded and their heads are being displayed. Sometimes these people are members of opposite drug cartels but usually the victims are police officers, writers and other citizens fighting crime.

[Jen in Trinidad]

Pete Dula wrote:

Alcohol abuse and tobbaco kill much more people than other drugs combined yet society or at least the politicians does not seem to care about it and just seem to go along, yet but only seem to care about cocaine deaths...I wonder why.....maybe because of deep economic interests of american companies in the alcohol and tobacco business? perhaps? As long as something becomes deeply entrenched it no longer becomes an issue yet as something as far away as a poor peasant planting coca leaves suddlently becomes so important. There is certainly politics at all levels and money interests with a huge dose of hypocrycy when it comes to the issue of drugs, war on drugs etc., it is a big joke unfortunately no one is serious enough to solve the problem because one way or another the legal and judicial systems and the economy benefits from illegal drugs, i would say much much more than a peasant simply planting coca leaves in the andes. Indirectly the peasants who plant coca in bolivia are actually beneficial in the end to the huge money interests in the judicial, prison, legal and systems which also profit from illegal drugs. A drug addict is a patient and unfortunately, for some people the fact that drug addicts and drug dealers get caught pays their bills.

Which is why education and morals begin in the home, not with the government.

[F U B]

F U!

[Pete Dula]

Not not really, sociologists point out that hatred, xenophobia, and all other phobias are taught at home or begin at home, or are encouraged or not corrected at home. It has sometimes taken the government to intervene before a society tears itself apart. If there was no government, it would be every man for himself, a real jungle, do as you wish and make your own laws. Business people would love this as this would allow them to pretty much make their own laws, thankfully we are thinking beings and not like the animals and as such, we can protest, rise up, and bring a revolution when things are not being done the right way. This in the end moves us forward, out of strife, suffering and destruction, there is always a new era or beginning. The history or man is full of these struggles, nothing is in vain. Out of world war II, democracy spreads, out of the crushing blow of the french revolution, representative democracy and the civil code was born, out of destruction and chaos, a new beginning eventually rises, out of apartheid in south africa, democracy finally arose in South Africa.