Wow. Just….wow. I never thought I’d live to see the day when Mexico legalizes drugs for personal consumption. Well, actually, they haven’t yet…but they’re standing on the precipice and looking straight down the barrel of that particular gun. I guess if you have the one of the largest and deadliest active drug wars being waged in your own front yard you have to come up with something to combat the uncontrollable violence that’s rotting your country from the inside out.
This could also serve as a great case study to see what actually happens when a country as large as Mexico decides to cast aside the War On Drugs mantra and allow the people who are already using illegal substances to do so in a legal manner.
Let’s hope this won’t be a half-hearted attempt at changing a failed policy. If Mexico is to do this right, they need to not only stop prosecuting harmless users, but also offer an alternative to illicit sources. With drugs legalized and regulated, less money will find its way into criminal organizations. It might even go so far as to persuade the drug cartels into going legit, pay taxes on their products, and transform themselves into honest businessmen. Yeah, keep dreaming. Right?
Come to think of it, this could usher in a rebirth and resurrection of sorts for Mexico. No longer would people have to travel to Amsterdam to party, they could simply skip on down south of the border. Mexico could reap in the new tax dollars, and with the violence quashed the tourists would return and prop up the economy even more.
If it comes to fruition, this first step at legalizing drugs in Mexico will effectively push the cost of the War On Drugs back across the border and squarely on the shoulders of the United States. I’d be curious to see how the U.S. reacts.
I’m not saying that legalization is the cure all for what ails Mexico, but done responsibly it’s a step in the right direction. Look, it’s either legalize the stuff or continue fighting a losing battle. What would you suggest?
I dunno…at the very least if Vicente Fox signs this into law this is going to be something very interesting to watch. Desperate times call for drastic measures I suppose…
There are quite a few topics I’d like to address, but as I sit down to write this post I’m not sure which one to focus on:
1- Air Force One doing a low-level flyover of Manhattan and ground zero. What moron thought that was a good idea? Whatever happened to “the buck stops here“?
2- Swine Flu: What’s the real story? Why is Mexico taking extreme measures to combat this illness while America sits back and does nothing? Is this a case of hype over facts? Did you know that 36,000 Americans die every year because of the flu? The victims are typically the very young and the very old. This Swine Flu (no, I’m not going to call it H1N1) seems to be killing people of all ages. I’m not quite sure what to believe about this illness, but I’m not about to panic.
3 – Arlen Spector: The man who created the “single bullet theory” switches political parties, jumping ship to the Democratic ticket. This is the same Arlen Spector whose key vote helped pass Obama’s pork-filled stimulus bill. Face it, he switched sides because he had no chance in hell of being re-elected in the upcoming Republican race. This is yet another example why nobody should be forced to vote along party lines.
4- The University of Central Florida has developed a new technology which could allow for a single disc to store over 4 terabytes of information. Call me jaded, but I won’t get excited until I can hold a data crystal in my hands.
But above all of this dire news and political flack one thing really had me questioning my faith in humanity and all that I hold most dear in this world. I thought I knew everything, that nothing of this magnitude could have possibly escaped my finely honed observational senses for all of these years.
Did you ever notice who the supervising producer of Who’s The Boss was?
You doubt me? See for yourself:
Sometimes I shock myself at what I find newsworthy…
Whelp, the weather is finally heating up here in San Diego. We’ve recently experienced several days of 90° scorchers. While certainly tolerable on the short walk from the office to the car, it’s pure hell while trail running in the back hills. I’m afflicted with a malady common to quite a few of my fellow runners; I tend to carry a small water bottle into battle, and nothing else. During these hot runs it’s not uncommon for me to be many, many miles away from my car when I suddenly find myself out of water. It’s then that I notice my fingers beginning to swell, the heat escaping through the top of my head feels like it’s going to set my hair on fire, and the legs begin to stumble a bit as my feet desperately seek solid purchase on the wavering, rocky trails.
I think it’s time to upgrade my trusty water bottle companion. And since my Mt. Whitney run is fast approaching I figured I might as well bite the bullet and invest in a CamelBak. I’ll need to break one in and become accustomed to it before September. I’ll want to know where the chaffing points are and how my body will adjust to running with extra weight on my back before the big run.
Reading the reviews I’ve decided on the CamelBak Octane XC 70oz model. My birthday was this weekend, and the parents-in-law hooked me up with a bit of cash which I’ll use to pick up one of these bad boys.
Oh, and I forgot how much of a bastard whiskey is. Happy birthday to me indeed….
I have three basic tenets in life that I follow, and thus far they’ve kept me out of trouble. They are:
1: Don’t get in a fight with a guy who has rolls of skin running down the back of his neck
2: Avoid getting in a property line dispute with a neighbor who has webbed fingers
3: Never dine at a strip mall eatery that offers half off sushi
I’m an hour away from wrapping up a ten hour day at work, and I’m starving. I’m about to tuck in to a turkey sandwich that my wonderful wife made for me last night when I noticed it. Actually, I’ve seen it before, but I’ve never really paid it much mind:
What are the .01% of germs that hand sanitizers are unable to erradicate? If my body is infested with these rarified microbes, should I be worried? And, more importantly, if .01% of bacterium are able to survive the onslaught of medical grade hand sanitizers, are we somehow empowering a germ that’s become resistant to antibacerials? If internal bugs have grown resistant over time to antibiotics, have external bugs done the same, and in the process grown stronger and more adapt at making us ill?
I mean, I’m trying to be realistic here. I don’t expect Johnson & Johnson to come up with a product that neutralizes the Hanta virus, Anthrax spores, or Ebola. I’d just like to know which common, ordinary germs that ordinary people would ordinarily encounter are included in the .01% statistic. Call me curious.
Or, am I simply focusing on the innocuous, and I should just shut up and eat my sandwich already?
