While flipping through the Chicago Tribune this morning I stumbled on an interesting article about Mexico and it's changing views on drugs. Recently in Mexico, the crime rate has worsened, and the government has pin pointed it down to the drug problem. Instead of the usual "Say No to Drugs" mentality, Mexico is giving it second thoughts. The article explains that, "President Felipe Calderon, has sent a proposal to Congress that would decriminalize small amounts of drugs by giving those consumers the choice of treatment instead of jail time." So my question is, is this a more idealistic path, or pragmatic path?
Seeing as it is the beginning stages of the process, it would seem to be more idealistic. It would seem so simple and reasonable that the idea that legalizing small amounts of certain drugs, like in Amsterdam, would bring down the crime rate. However, this approach has pragmatic values as well. The potential result would be that by legalizing marijuana, the prices of criminals would need to go down and they would lose a lot of money. By losing money, their whole underground system would collapse, and therefore, the crime rate would lower. It becomes more pragmatic because the law would not just legalize drugs, because that could end in more addiction (and therefore violence and crime), it would give those caught with drugs a chance to go to treatment rather than jail. Treatment not only helps people to become sober, but the ultimate hope is that it changes the person for the better. It seems rational and equal between idealism and pragmatism for Mexico that this law would help.
The article also showed the opposing side. It quotes a U.S. official named John Walters saying, "There's only two ways this goes: They either surrender to law enforcement or they die." This is a very extreme opposition and yet people agree with him as well. If Mexico legalizes drugs, it's possible that people will abuse the law profusily, and the country could end in more peril than it started in.
So if Mexico's pragmatists and idealists work together, would saying "yes" to drugs help them or hurt them?
3 comments:
This is a very interesting analysis of the drug issue! I agree there is both pragmatic and idealistic thinking in Mexico reasoning but neither one will tell the future. A government has to be so careful in what thinking the base their decisions off of because neither can ensure a specific outcome in the future. Sometimes idealism fails decision making because it is not practical and visa versa pragmatic thinking restricts the strides that the government could of made. The way to base the outcome of the drug issue is to see how well the balance was in the Mexican governments decision making between pragmatic and idealistic reasoning.
While one may look at the the legalization of certain drugs as damaging to a society, i think that it could in fact help it. It is common knowledge that in Amsterdam , certain amounts of drugs are legal, like in the proposed solution in Mexico. According to the Dutch Embassy (http://www.ukcia.org/research/DutchPolicyAndCrimeStatistics.html), the percentage of drug users in their country is less than in the United State in almost all categories. The main problem in the Netherlands are tourists coming in and taking advantage of their more relaxed drug enforcement embassy. I think that when substances are made illegal, people are tempted to use them irresponsibly, such as with underage drinking. With a more relaxed climate, i think that people will be smarter about the drugs that they use.
YAY BARI!!!!
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