Local news (increase in security presence)

I seriously doubt that, after/if drugs in the US are legalized, the gang members will be looking for honest employment. I'm sure they'll come up with another way to screw the general population.

Sadly, you are correct. This is all the more reason why the War on Drugs should never have been started in the first place. It is not as though we did not know exactly what would happen. In the 1960's, the experience of the first Prohibition regarding alcohol was staring the authorities in the face. The tremendous profits from selling alcohol in the 1930's fueled the rise of the so-called "underworld." (The astrologers said it was because the planet Pluto, the god of the underworld, had just been discovered. Ah, no. It was Prohibition I and the quest for intoxication by the vast majority of the God-fearin' Little Folk.) The underworld infiltrated much of the United States, up to and including the FBI, the very organization created to counter the rise of organized crime.

In the 1960's, Lenny Bruce quipped that marijuana would soon become legal because, "all the law students I know smoke it." Instead, the politicians starting with Richard "I am not a crook" Nixon saw it as a great vote getter. "We are tough on crime!" The crime, of course, being human and wishing to alter one's mood in the manner of their choosing. John Pryne sang, "And you may see me tonight with an illegal smile. It don't cost very much, but it lasts a long while." Buff Rose sang, "Oh, Dear! How can I lose? Good bye, pot. Hello, booze!" Phil Ochs sang, "Smoking marijuana is more fun than drinking beer but one of our friends was captured and they gave him thirty years!"

As Rob said, we need to remove the major source of income from the gangs by legalizing recreational drugs as soon as possible. In addition, we need to release the drug prisoners from the overcrowded jails immediately. It's costing us billions! In their place, we need drug counseling and public awareness programs based on serious taxes placed upon the legal drugs sales and the savings from not locking up a large percentage of our population.

Of course, don't expect this to happen any time soon. Ask your local politician or DEA agent what they think about this strategy. Ask your local, regional, national, or global drug dealer. Ask Seagram's and Budweiser and the Oxycontin and Oxycodone manufacturers what they think.

One last comment, someone may argue, "but the marijuana of today is far more potent than the marijuana of the 1960's and 1970's and that's why we can't legalize it." You respond with a resounding, "Well, duh! That's exactly what we knew would happen!" Before Prohibition I, beer and wine vastly outsold hard liquors. Of course, if you are dealing in contraband, you want to be able to transport the most amount of product in the least amount of space. Therefore, the Rum Runners concentrated on hard liquors. The same dynamic affected marijuana. The growers wanted more and more potent product so that the transportation and distribution would be more profitable while attracting the least amount of unwanted attention. It was the very act of keeping marijuana illegal that produced the unbelievably potent strains that we see today.

Please do not think that I am advocating drug use in any form. You would be sadly mistaken. I get a buzz off the communion wine at mass. I get the shakes from drinking coffee. I can't even take an aspirin without getting a massive stomach ache. Marijuana makes me stupid and paranoid. However, as I said to the Customs and Border Agent at my SENTRI interview when she asked if I did any illegal drugs, "I went to college ... a million years ago."

In short, the War on Drugs is a war on ourselves. We will not win it. It is bleeding our nation and it is making those who have no concern for human life rich and powerful. We could not have done a worse job if we tried.