Soob

Politics, Foreign Policy, Current Events and Occasional Outbursts Lacking Couth

This used to be a worry for American tourists abroad. Now it's a worry for American citizens in their own home towns.

More ransom kidnappings happen in Phoenix than in any other town in the United States, according to local and federal law-enforcement authorities. Most victims and suspects are connected to the drug-smuggling world, usually tracing back to the western Mexican state of Sinaloa, Phoenix police report.

Arizona has become the new drug gateway into the United States. Roughly half of all marijuana seized at the U.S.-Mexico border was found along Arizona's 370-mile-long stretch.

One result is a kidnapping epidemic. Nearly every other crime here is down. But police received 366 kidnap-for-ransom reports last year, 359 in 2007. Police estimate twice that number go unreported.
Amazing what our government will put it's people through to keep a mostly harmless weed illegal.
Via Nykrndc on Twitter

4 comments:

Adrian said...

If weed is legalized, kidnappings will stop? What about heroin and cocaine? Not to mention the other stuff smuggled across the border (people, guns, etc.). Legalizing weed is a good idea in order to empty our prisons and end general silliness but drug cartels will barely flinch. Heroin and cocaine bring in waaay more money than weed.

Jay@Soob said...

I've posted plenty on the legalization of drugs and how it's benefits outweigh it's drawbacks.

Jay@Soob said...

This post is a continuation of the previous.

Adrian said...

Legalizing all drugs is different from legalizing weed. Legalizing weed would have no effect on the strength of the Mexican central state, little effect on the strength of cartels, and might even increase kidnappings if smuggling jobs get tight because there is less to smuggle.