Narcobloqueos, May 1, 2015 roadblocks

viajero wrote:Imagine if people could walk in to a 7/11,OXXO,etc and buy crack, heroin  and meth.
Anyone familiar with the addictive qualities of those drugs and the devastation they cause would probably agree that it would be a bad idea.
But it's a moot point because it's not going to happen.

I agree it's not going to happen, but as has been mentioned before, Portugal had great success with decriminalizing all drugs. This is not hypothetical. They did it, and it worked out better than they expected.

A total breakdown of civilization was predicted with the outlawing of alcohol, but I can't see that this has happened. Some abuse it, of course, and they did when it was illegal, but when it was illegal, bad guys got rich off of it. And desperate people drank dangerous home-distilled drinks because they simply weren't going to go without it.

And what about cigarettes? Nicotine is insanely addictive, smoking is lethal, and you can get cigarettes easily. Yet use has gone way down in the past decade. So legality and availability don't automatically mean high use.

The vast majority of people deal quite well with the fact that they can buy whiskey in a 7/11 or Oxxo and I have a feeling it would be the same with drugs.

Pardon my attitude, but I believe we are the masters of our own fate. If someone chooses to commit long term suicide by smoking cigarettes or drinking or taking lethal drugs, I believe we are not their keepers, their nannies or should throw them in jail for making those unfortunate choices in life.

I doubt that anyone has not heard about the dangers of any of the drugs out there, including cigarette smoking, "vaping", drinking or snorting unless they've been living in an very remote cavern all their lives.

Well be prepared to be assaulted with e-mails from your friends and family asking if you are OK as this is the article circulating in the Canadian media and on Facebook right now.

http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/canadians-in-mexico-warned-to-limit-movements-beware-gang-violence-1.2357832

CanuckBob wrote:Well be prepared to be assaulted with e-mails from your friends and family asking if you are OK as this is the article circulating in the Canadian media and on Facebook right now.

http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/canadians-in-mexico-warned-to-limit-movements-beware-gang-violence-1.2357832

Ten years ago, my adult son informed me that if I insisted on going ahead with the plan to move to Mexico, I should realize that every few years, the Mexicans went around and killed all the "gringos" with machetes.

If we live in fear, we miss many of the good things in life.  IMO, many people do, and they eventually die anyway.  My friends and family know better than to send me that kind of purple press now.

And.........that's another good reason to ignore "Faceplant".

I tell people:

- Yes, I am aware of the situation.
- No, we have no concerns what so ever.
- No, we haven't seen any of it even though we have been into Guadalajara several times in the past 4 days.
- Yes, the incidents are isolated just like some of the gang type violence up north. You really need to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

CanuckBob wrote:I tell people:

- Yes, the incidents are isolated just like some of the gang type violence up north. You really need to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

And there's the rub. Sometimes you do find yourself in the wrong place at the wrong time, through no apparent fault of your own. A few months after moving to Mexico in 2008, I was in the Plaza de Armas in Morelia for the Independence Day celebrations when some "special" grenades - I forget the term - were randomly tossed into the crowd. I think 11 people died and over a hundred were injured, many seriously. I was lucky in that I was on the "other side" of where it happened.

You roll the dice wherever you are.

Hey Gringal, I have lived in an very remote cavern all my life. What is "vaping". Drug induced rapes? I think your son should meet my brother. They were born on the same foggy day. But hey, at least it shows they care.

I too have received the "news" from my Canadian family who after 20 years remain amazed that I want to stay here. I guess there is just no cure for a cussed stubbornness to understand the reasoning - on either side of the family.  

"Vaping" is inhaling those imitation cigarettes, which I understand deliver the nicotine fix. I've also heard they are worse for you than the real deal.
If you're gonna quit, I say "quit" and be done with it.
I smoked up to three packs a day. Then I quit, cold turkey, many years ago. I'm still paying the price for my stupidity.

"Probably not, but if I was 18 to 25 years of age, I probably would if there were no legal consequences."

There are no legal consequences for jumping off of the Brooklyn bridge.

Where would we be without drugs?

Better living through chemistry!

I agree with gringal, Nature has a way of dealing with those that over indulge in anything. The strong survive and the weak perish. If you can not foresee the road hard drug use will take you down then over time you will kill yourself.
One thing for sure is that the current way of dealing with cartels and drugs is not working, but it has not for as long as I can remember and still it does not change no mater how many lives are lost. Radical change requires radical means.