this post was submitted on 07 Oct 2024
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The mayor of a Mexican city plagued by drug violence has been murdered less than a week after taking office.

Alejandro Arcos was found dead on Sunday in Chilpancingo, a city of around 280,000 people in the southwestern state of Guerrero. He had been mayor for six days.

Evelyn Salgado, the state governor, said the city was in mourning over a murder that "fills us with indignation". His death came three days after the city government's new secretary, Francisco Tapia, was shot dead.

Authorities have not released details of the investigation, or suspects. However, Guerrero is one of the worst-affected states for drug violence and drug cartels have murdered dozens of politicians across the country.

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[–] clover@slrpnk.net 102 points 10 hours ago (3 children)

If there wasn't such a strong black market for illegal drugs in the US, these cartels wouldn't have this much power/money.

[–] ChicoSuave@lemmy.world 38 points 7 hours ago (2 children)

Cartels sell more than drugs these days. They learned in the 90s that diversifying into different products gave them more stability against drug enforcement. Avocados have turned into legal profit. Logging in another business. Neither of these things will be affected by someone quitting drugs. Stop building houses and stop eating avocado now.

[–] Not_mikey@slrpnk.net 7 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

They might be only able to do those other things since they are able to pay an army to terrorize, intimidate and bribe local and state government's into allowing them to exist and set up these protection racquets. It takes a lot of money to be able to be more powerful then a government, I don't think selling avocados or logging could generate that much

[–] Delta_V@lemmy.world 4 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago)

Avocados and logging also don't need to worry about getting shut down by the law like the cocaine and heroin business does.

Legalize the coke and dope, and the incentive to resort to violence to avoid criminal penalties goes away.

[–] andrew_bidlaw@sh.itjust.works 2 points 5 hours ago

Muh avocado toast!

[–] assassinatedbyCIA@lemmy.world 23 points 8 hours ago

I think I heard from somewhere that while that might have worked decades ago the cartels have diversified their ‘business’ to the point where drug legalisation wouldn’t kill them. We should still legalise drugs but I doubt they’ll fix the cartel issue.

[–] InverseParallax@lemmy.world 21 points 10 hours ago (6 children)

So, I don't disagree, but we legalized weed in the civilized parts of the country and it had little effect, I'm not sure I want to legalize cocaine, it's much better at killing people.

[–] Buddahriffic@lemmy.world 7 points 5 hours ago

I think legalizing weed didn't make that much of a difference because the whole claim that buying random weed from a random dealer put money in cartel or terrorist pockets was a lie.

Not that there weren't any large weed organizations, they just weren't murdering people at the scale the cartels are or doing it to fund violence.

They'd also rely a lot on temporary workers since trimming was really the only labour intensive step, and then it would be sent out into a distribution network that wasn't so much an organization as it was a collection of independent or small scale distributors. Which in some locations might have been gangs, but I'd guess was mostly normal people looking to make some extra money.

[–] Kalkaline@leminal.space 18 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

Portugal set the standard years ago. Legalize it and divert all the money that would go to incarceration to inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation for drug addiction.

[–] Ghostalmedia@lemmy.world 13 points 7 hours ago

Minor clarification -Technically it was decriminalized, not legalized. Distribution will send you to jail and, after 2 or more possession offenses, you’re forced into a treatment program.

And sadly, things have started to get worse again in Portugal. Lately they’ve been sending fewer people to treatment, and surprise surprise, usage and deaths have gone up.

[–] dwindling7373@feddit.it 25 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

Little effect in what regard?

[–] Kraven_the_Hunter@lemmy.dbzer0.com 15 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

I think they're saying that legalizing weed hasnt done anything to reduce Mexican cartel influence or violence.

[–] deranger@sh.itjust.works 40 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago) (1 children)

Why would it? It’s the bulkiest, smelliest, lowest cost drug there is. Mexican weed sucked ass too. Moving cocaine or especially ultra high strength opiate analogs is significantly more lucrative.

Making things illegal doesn’t work. Not alcohol, not drugs, not abortion. It needs to be addressed by education. The current just say no abstinence approach leaves people ill prepared for when they encounter drugs. Our relationship with drugs is fucked, currently. Altering our state of consciousness with drugs is a fundamental part of being human.

[–] Ghostalmedia@lemmy.world 7 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

We don’t need to legalize. If we decriminalized, then took the money for jailing and funded mandatory treatment, we could do what Portugal did in the early 00’s.

[–] InverseParallax@lemmy.world 1 points 2 hours ago

I'm actually fine with decriminalizing consumption so long as distribution (real distribution, not piddly shit) stays illegal, at least without proper licensing, etc.

I'm not thrilled about it but I'm open so long as cocaine and heroin aren't fully legalized.

[–] Pringles@lemm.ee 4 points 6 hours ago

I am sure. Legalize all of it. Legalize it, regulate it, tax it, use half of the new income for prevention and education, one quarter for medical support for addicts and the rest fills the coffers. You take away the power from the criminal gangs, while at the same time increasing your tax revenue, adding new legal avenues of business and minimizing the health impact considerably.

[–] _wizard@lemmy.world 3 points 9 hours ago (4 children)

Still waiting for legal grass.

[–] deranger@sh.itjust.works 5 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago) (1 children)

Assuming you’re in the US:

It’s called THCa and is the same weed you’ve been smoking your whole life. You can get ounces to your door in the mail 100% legally thanks to a poorly written Farm Bill.

The farm bill only states a certain % of THC is illegal. Well, THC isn’t on the plants in large quantities - that only exists once you heat the cannabis to isomerize it from THCa to THC. It’s not delta 8 or some weird synthetic cannabinoid, weed has always been THCa before it’s heated.

There are dispensaries all over Texas these days selling great weed with this loophole. Texas, of all places.

[–] _wizard@lemmy.world 2 points 5 hours ago

Good to know. I moved out over a year ago. Going back EOM for a family visit. Hate landing anywhere dry, so I'll probably check these out.

[–] HootinNHollerin@lemmy.world 2 points 8 hours ago

California announced they’ll be opening cannabis cafes

[–] xmunk@sh.itjust.works 1 points 8 hours ago

Come do some smoking tourism in BC!

[–] InverseParallax@lemmy.world 0 points 8 hours ago

As I said, the civilized parts of the country.