Tuesday, August 02, 2005

Tradeoffs: Mexican cartels boost meth involvement

In his excellent primer, Beyond Fear, which I read on vacation, security expert Bruce Schneier points out that new security measures always involve tradeoffs, often choosing the lesser of two or more evils. That's what's happening, apparently, to the Texas methamphetamine trade: reduction of one risk (over the counter cold-pill sales that enable addicts to make meth at home) has created another (increased gangster violence from Mexican cartels).

The frustrating security question for drug warriors: Which is worse?


In response to new Texas legislation making it harder for home-grown meth cooks to get over-the-counter pseudoephedrine, a key ingredient in home-cooked meth, the
Houston Chronicle reports that Mexican drug cartels have stepped up their involvement in producing and distributing the drug in the Lone Star state.

Great, that's just what we need is for the guys who've turned Nuevo Laredo into a war zone to see Texas as a hotbed of market growth.

Most meth addicts aren't hardened criminals, but in general are a pretty pathetic lot. The better solutions involve drug treatment and evidence-based strategies to reduce demand.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yep, you are correct. Double ditto for the pot heads. When was the last time a pot head went on a rampage?

Don
enormous iNCoNgrUiTieS

Anonymous said...

So the Mexican mafia gets richer, meth addicts get cheaper and higher-quality imported drugs, the pols have another "victory" in the War On Drugs to show the folks back home -- everyone's a winner!

Anonymous said...

Can't everyone see, the war on drugs is lost. Legalize marijuana and at least some of the trouble will cease. Most pot people can't find pot at times and turn to harder drugs just because they are there. This is what happened to me.