I have been around the planet for a lot of years.I was one of the so called hippies of the 1960's that supposedly lived free and drugged daily.I won't even mention the sex except to say that it was be

Today’s Wall Street Journal features a piece by Mary Anastasia O’Grady entitled “Mexico pays the price of prohibition.” In a time where the media continues to blame drugs as the problem it is refreshing to see an article that goes to the root of the problem in the headline.

O’Grady makes clear and concise points in regards to the 4,909 people that have been killed since Mexican President Felipe Calderon’s offensive against organized crime started two years ago,

For perspective on how violent Mexico has become, consider that the total number of Americans killed in Iraq since March 2003 is 4,142.

The article continues on to link other aspects of Mexico’s war on drugs to the overall issues effecting our southern neighbor.

As this column has pointed out many times, one reason that security has so deteriorated in the past decade is the demand in the U.S. for illegal narcotics, and the U.S. government's crackdown on the Caribbean trafficking route. Mexican cartels have risen up to serve the U.S. market, and their earnings have made them rich and well-armed.

The column clearly recognizes the basic concepts of supply and demand when speaking on financial realities of how much cash is being pumped into Mexican cartels on the border, while falling short of saying the only way to fix this major problem is to legalize drugs.

O’Grady goes on to close the piece with a quote from former U.S. Foreign Service Officer Laurence Kerr.

America has been in Mexico's shoes: flush with the bounty of illegal liquor sales, organized crime thoroughly penetrated the U.S. justice system during Prohibition. As long as Americans willingly bury Mexican drug traffickers in greenbacks, progress in constraining the trade is likely to be limited." Regrettably, Mexico's institutional reform will also be limited and the death toll will keep climbing.

A man who had the bad judgment to grow marijuana on his own property,lost that property to a voracious crown with an appetite for easy money.Since the passing of the assets forfeiture act,the governme

CBC Newsworld did a story tonite about undercover cops and the things they can do to make an arrest.Canadian law enforcement uses American DEA agents because they are allowed to do whatever it takes t

Just found this site and am very interested to learn of the experience of other defense counsel in this area of the law. Looking forward to the wealth of information.

When a 22 year old Surrey youth left a drug house with a supply of drugs he had no idea that his life was about to be taken from him for the crime of possession of said drugs.The RCMP,who had the hous

I recently posted this one various sites for testing but now need help in really creating a true survey...

Once again an American drug interdiction"expert" has informed the Canadian media that the Taliban grow fat on opium production .This may well be true now that the NATO forces have allowed the problem

since the numbers of people under the control of the criminal justice system is now near seven million i believe there is enough to start a new movement to counteract the issue of illegal aliens in ou

Vancouver experienced it's 12 gang hit yesterday.The victim was one of those wounded in the earlier Fortune Happiness hit.As he was evidently the target in the earlier shootings,the shooters were just

As the meeting was posted for RSVP by the 21st and I didn't find out about it till the 25th I thought I'd have to drop in.I had the 26th in my head and wound up doing a walking tour of the DTES on Sa

Several months ago I read an article about how this drug was the best hope for drug addicts to come down the pike in years.Now,I can recall the exact same things being said about methadone so I was no

When I was at the Patients Out of Time Medical Cannabis conference in Asilomar this last April, I overheard a remark that startled me: "The US Government has a patent on cannabis." I couldn't locate

The shooting of a 20 year old U-Vic psych student on saturday was being lamented by family and friends as a mistake,as the boy was popular and had no gang connections or drug history.That turned out t

The Vancouver area network of drug users celebrated it's 10th anniversary on Saturday,July 19,'08.The week started out with co founder and media spokesperson Ann Livingston having to deal with another

Todays Sunday Dallas newspaper has the story of a sophisticated group of criminals who committed over 70 home invasions. They often dressed as police task force or SWAT officers.

Unfortunately, the decrease in meth use among Arizona's teens has been accompanied by an increase in the use of heroin.

Okay, I admit it. At the ripe old age of 55, overcome by curiosity, I decided to try salvia. Didn't care much for it; fortunately, the high only lasted about 15 minutes.

The Vancouver Province newspaper was a champion of the drug reform movement just a few years ago when now senator Larry Campbell was mayor and the left had a majority on city hall.In the last several

Editor: Irina Alexander is vice president of University of Maryland SSDP.

Too often, proponents of the War on Drugs pose the question, "What about the children?" in a misleading attempt to guilt those who rightfully believe today’s drug policies are a dismal failure. In reality, it is we who should be asking them this very question.

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (AP) — Twelve-year-old Alexia Belen Moreno was afraid living in her father's house in Ciudad Juarez, where drug cartels are fighting a bloody war. She begged to move in with her mother just across the border in El Paso, Texas. Her parents agreed — but asked her to stay a few more weeks to finish school.

Three days later, Alexia was shot in the head blocks from her home in broad daylight. Authorities believe she was caught in the crossfire when gunmen killed two men riding with her in a car.

Alexia's death is part of an alarming trend of children dying in Mexico's drug wars.

Mexican officials say they don't track the number of child deaths from drug-gang violence. But newspaper tallies find nearly 50 kids have been killed this year — and a code of ethics in which hit men took care to avoid harming children appears to be evaporating. [Associated Press]

I just don’t understand why it’s so hard for people to come to the simple and logical conclusion that in order to put an end to these brutal consequences, we must legalize and regulate drugs. Once there is no black market for drugs, drug cartels will have no profit to fight for. Once there is no profit, they won’t be outside on the public streets forcing people to resort to barricading themselves in their homes, praying that the few inches of wall separating their family from the gunshots will be enough to keep them safe since that’s the most they can do. Simple as that.

Instead, we’ve been relying on policies that sound good while overlooking what’s really happening. Of course, the entire original attempt at keeping drugs away from children has been a complete counterproductive disaster. According to the Monitoring the Future study, 86% of 12th graders reported marijuana "very easy" or "fairly easy" to get, easier than alcohol. Fancy that. Think we could convince some drug dealers to start checking ID?

Poor Alexia is now one of the countless innocent victims to the War on Drugs. As if the drug war isn’t awful enough already, now it’s shooting and killing children. What kind of a person could openly support policies that have such lethal effects? I just hope one day before it’s too late, they’ll realize what they’re doing. Unfortunately for Alexia and so many others, it's already too late.