<story><title>Colombia is considering legalizing its cocaine industry</title><url>https://www.vice.com/en/article/epdv3j/colombia-is-considering-legalizing-its-massive-cocaine-industry</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>brnt</author><text>It is a myth the Netherlands are handling drugs well. Reports on &amp;#x27;ondermijnende criminaliteit&amp;#x27; are muffled away, but meanwhile agencies and police are reporting that this industry is something the size of the Italian mafia and are every bit as criminal (and are in fact well connected internationally and often inventees of said Mafia).&lt;p&gt;Maybe this is overlooked because urban users are far from the illegal labs and most killings, but things are nowhere near a &amp;#x27;good experience&amp;#x27;. Legalisation of weed has only attracted the worst of the worst and police and &amp;#x27;opsporingsdiensten&amp;#x27; don&amp;#x27;t have the resources to stop the trade, pollution or shootings.&lt;p&gt;Check any reputable publication for articles, e.g.
1. &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.groene.nl&amp;#x2F;artikel&amp;#x2F;een-industrie-die-over-lijken-gaat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.groene.nl&amp;#x2F;artikel&amp;#x2F;een-industrie-die-over-lijken-...&lt;/a&gt;
2. &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.nrc.nl&amp;#x2F;nieuws&amp;#x2F;2019&amp;#x2F;12&amp;#x2F;17&amp;#x2F;italiaanse-maffia-experts-nederland-is-naief-a3984134&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.nrc.nl&amp;#x2F;nieuws&amp;#x2F;2019&amp;#x2F;12&amp;#x2F;17&amp;#x2F;italiaanse-maffia-exper...&lt;/a&gt;
3. &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.rijksoverheid.nl&amp;#x2F;onderwerpen&amp;#x2F;ondermijning&amp;#x2F;ondermijnende-criminaliteit&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.rijksoverheid.nl&amp;#x2F;onderwerpen&amp;#x2F;ondermijning&amp;#x2F;onderm...&lt;/a&gt;
4. &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.ad.nl&amp;#x2F;binnenland&amp;#x2F;albanezen-verdringen-mocromaffia-op-de-drugsmarkt~a9bb0199&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.ad.nl&amp;#x2F;binnenland&amp;#x2F;albanezen-verdringen-mocromaffi...&lt;/a&gt;
5. &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.telegraaf.nl&amp;#x2F;nieuws&amp;#x2F;125305&amp;#x2F;nederland-narcostaat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.telegraaf.nl&amp;#x2F;nieuws&amp;#x2F;125305&amp;#x2F;nederland-narcostaat&lt;/a&gt;</text></item><item><author>GekkePrutser</author><text>Good idea. Fighting it only makes the product more valuable, and the cartels more powerful.&lt;p&gt;In the Netherlands we have really good experience with legalisation. Cannabis is legal and hard drugs (or substitutes) are provided to long-term addicts only. It drives prices down, reducing black market profits and thus the power of cartels. Promotes legal vendors to abide by rules (or they&amp;#x27;ll lose their license) and makes it possible to have checks on the products to make sure they&amp;#x27;re safe, not mixed with real toxins. And the lower street price reduces crime around drugs (like theft, addicts stealing to pay for their hit)&lt;p&gt;Banning drug use by force is a US pipe dream. It&amp;#x27;s impossible. All it provides is a pork barrel for drug agencies, weapons manufacturers etc. It escalates the price. They haven&amp;#x27;t made a dent in the 40 years of the war on drugs. When the demand doesn&amp;#x27;t cease, all you do is make the product more expensive and the ones that provide it more powerful.&lt;p&gt;PS: I never used drugs of any kind (except alcohol ;) )</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>woah</author><text>My guess is that legalization is badly implemented in NL. Isn&amp;#x27;t it more like a &amp;quot;look the other way&amp;quot; policy, so that businesses in the industry still have to operate underground? If you make a business illegal, then only criminals will do it. In the US, marijuana has become extremely boring very quickly. The industry is now dominated by artisinal bud brands, IoT vape pods, and CBD smoothies, not gangs. Perhaps NL needs to legalize all the way.&lt;p&gt;Growing marujuana, as a business, is fundamentally almost exactly the same as growing any crop.</text></comment>
<story><title>Colombia is considering legalizing its cocaine industry</title><url>https://www.vice.com/en/article/epdv3j/colombia-is-considering-legalizing-its-massive-cocaine-industry</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>brnt</author><text>It is a myth the Netherlands are handling drugs well. Reports on &amp;#x27;ondermijnende criminaliteit&amp;#x27; are muffled away, but meanwhile agencies and police are reporting that this industry is something the size of the Italian mafia and are every bit as criminal (and are in fact well connected internationally and often inventees of said Mafia).&lt;p&gt;Maybe this is overlooked because urban users are far from the illegal labs and most killings, but things are nowhere near a &amp;#x27;good experience&amp;#x27;. Legalisation of weed has only attracted the worst of the worst and police and &amp;#x27;opsporingsdiensten&amp;#x27; don&amp;#x27;t have the resources to stop the trade, pollution or shootings.&lt;p&gt;Check any reputable publication for articles, e.g.
1. &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.groene.nl&amp;#x2F;artikel&amp;#x2F;een-industrie-die-over-lijken-gaat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.groene.nl&amp;#x2F;artikel&amp;#x2F;een-industrie-die-over-lijken-...&lt;/a&gt;
2. &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.nrc.nl&amp;#x2F;nieuws&amp;#x2F;2019&amp;#x2F;12&amp;#x2F;17&amp;#x2F;italiaanse-maffia-experts-nederland-is-naief-a3984134&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.nrc.nl&amp;#x2F;nieuws&amp;#x2F;2019&amp;#x2F;12&amp;#x2F;17&amp;#x2F;italiaanse-maffia-exper...&lt;/a&gt;
3. &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.rijksoverheid.nl&amp;#x2F;onderwerpen&amp;#x2F;ondermijning&amp;#x2F;ondermijnende-criminaliteit&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.rijksoverheid.nl&amp;#x2F;onderwerpen&amp;#x2F;ondermijning&amp;#x2F;onderm...&lt;/a&gt;
4. &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.ad.nl&amp;#x2F;binnenland&amp;#x2F;albanezen-verdringen-mocromaffia-op-de-drugsmarkt~a9bb0199&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.ad.nl&amp;#x2F;binnenland&amp;#x2F;albanezen-verdringen-mocromaffi...&lt;/a&gt;
5. &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.telegraaf.nl&amp;#x2F;nieuws&amp;#x2F;125305&amp;#x2F;nederland-narcostaat&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.telegraaf.nl&amp;#x2F;nieuws&amp;#x2F;125305&amp;#x2F;nederland-narcostaat&lt;/a&gt;</text></item><item><author>GekkePrutser</author><text>Good idea. Fighting it only makes the product more valuable, and the cartels more powerful.&lt;p&gt;In the Netherlands we have really good experience with legalisation. Cannabis is legal and hard drugs (or substitutes) are provided to long-term addicts only. It drives prices down, reducing black market profits and thus the power of cartels. Promotes legal vendors to abide by rules (or they&amp;#x27;ll lose their license) and makes it possible to have checks on the products to make sure they&amp;#x27;re safe, not mixed with real toxins. And the lower street price reduces crime around drugs (like theft, addicts stealing to pay for their hit)&lt;p&gt;Banning drug use by force is a US pipe dream. It&amp;#x27;s impossible. All it provides is a pork barrel for drug agencies, weapons manufacturers etc. It escalates the price. They haven&amp;#x27;t made a dent in the 40 years of the war on drugs. When the demand doesn&amp;#x27;t cease, all you do is make the product more expensive and the ones that provide it more powerful.&lt;p&gt;PS: I never used drugs of any kind (except alcohol ;) )</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>throwa20201203</author><text>Please forgive the nuisance but would you mind noting -- how can we check what you mean by &amp;quot;reputable&amp;quot;? The reasons I&amp;#x27;m asking: current media climate; long history of white-supremacist thinking in that area of this space-rock; etc&lt;p&gt;[edited to add:]&lt;p&gt;Also, as mentioned elsewhere in this thread -- the Dutch government has been taking a certain kinda turn.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;m also asking as someone whose family has been affected by the opiate epidemic in the US. I&amp;#x27;m someone who&amp;#x27;s concerned about drug policy, first domestically but also globally. I want harm reduction. I&amp;#x27;m in the middle of a career change and may be focusing on this going forward (if I can find out how).&lt;p&gt;So I promise you, I&amp;#x27;m not trying to beg-the-question, I&amp;#x27;m legitimately curious about your comment and just trying to deal with the language barrier.</text></comment>