Hillary Clinton: We Can't Legalize Drugs Because 'There Is Just Too Much Money in It'

[Ichingcarpenter]

Hillary Clinton: We Can't Legalize Drugs Because 'There Is Just Too Much Money in It'


Last week, while visiting Mexico, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was interviewed by Denise Maerker of Televisa, who asked her opinion of proposals to address black-market violence by repealing drug prohibition. Clinton's response illustrates not only the intellectual bankruptcy of the prohibitionist position but the economic ignorance of a woman who would be president (emphasis added):

Maerker: In Mexico, there are those who propose not keeping going with this battle and legalize drug trafficking and consumption. What is your opinion?

Clinton: I don't think that will work. I mean, I hear the same debate. I hear it in my country. It is not likely to work. There is just too much money in it, and I don't think that—you can legalize small amounts for possession, but those who are making so much money selling, they have to be stopped.

Clinton evidently does not understand that there is so much money to be made by selling illegal drugs precisely because they are illegal.


http://reason.com/blog/2011/02/07/hillary-clinton-we-cant-legali

[DonCoquixote]

1. Translation from Bullshit

"we know that if we did legalize it, the same Corporations that we refuse to control would be all over it, selling Lemon flavored cocaine aimed at preschoolers. Therefore, we will not even try to l;egalize it, as we would have to switch from attacking those who are easy prey (minorities and poor white trash) to the people who will either sign the checks to keep us alive, or our death warrants."

[Ichingcarpenter]

2. Too much money is Private Prisons

DEA budget, ATF budget and pharmaceutical profits.

[Blue_Tires]

11. Not to mention the fact that many of our shady overseas 'allies'

who have a long, cozy relationship with the CIA would lose their biggest revenue stream...

[Poboy]

30. What a steaming pile of diarrhetic bullshit this woman is.

[Demeter]

3. Hillary Has Never Had an Intellectual Leg to Stand On

for all her education and experience has been Corporate, not human.

[timtom]

10. Precisely what I've always thought. nt

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[midnight]

5. It sure sounds that way,,,,, But who is making all that money?

[Le Taz Hot]

17. The Cartels

in Mexico and the ME. A portion of that money gets funneled through to the C.I.A. for under-the-radar operations that you and I aren't supposed to know about.
The prison industry -- remember, more and more states are going towards for-profit (privatization) prison systems.
The pharmaceutical companies -- millions of people deny themselves the relief that canibus can offer them for a variety of ailments because of the illegal status and lack of availability unless they live in a MM state.

Those are off the top of my head. I know there's more.

[druidity33]

6. ugh... k&r, nt.

[ixion]

7. Clinton towing the status quo BS line... how un-surprising.

I wonder if she knows how stupid she sounds when she talks rot like this.

[eShirl]

8. Did all these pro-prohibition politicians fail 20th Century American History?

[Brickbat]

9. Too much money in...what? The war on drugs?

[Little Star]

13. I took it to mean that the drug lords make to much money to be stopped...

jmho

[Brickbat]

22. And what an embarrassing admission that would be, too.

[Statistical]

12. Just like Anheuser Busch is uncontrollable.

See alchohol was illegal, highly priced, and thus very lucrative for organized crime.

After we legalized it, things went to hell. The Anheuser Busch cartel routinely buys politicians, manipulates beer prices higher, and kills rivals in running gang wars.

Oh wait none of that happened.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

34. I think one could argue that two of those three things HAVE happened.

The Anheuser Busch cartel routinely buys politicians, manipulates beer prices higher, and kills rivals in running gang wars.


I'd note that all three happened under prohibition. Add campaign finance laws and regulation to legalization and all three would disappear.

[woo me with science]

14. Too big to fail! nt

[Vinca]

15. Legalize pot, tax it and the deficit goes away.

[Statistical]

23. Well no. Our deficit is a magnitude larger than that.

Alchohol sales are roughly $116 bil a year, tobacco is a $20 bil a year. Lets say someday pot is $200B industry. Lets also say you tax it at 25%. That's $50B a year. Our deficit is $1500B a year.

Still it can't hurt but it does illustrate how deep our deficit is.

[Bluenorthwest]

16. The most ignorant statement I have ever heard uttered by

Hillary Clinton. Apparently she is equal parts stupid and shill. Hey Hillary, how'd we stop those bootleggers making so much money? Yeah, we removed the market via legalization.
Hill is officially a stooge.

[charlie]

18. What if Bill got caught not inhalin' and thrown into the slammer?

It might've changed a thing or two. Like, no governorship or presidency. She'd also be singing a different tune today, I suppose. Especially when Dubya and Dick manage to seize the highest offices with DUIs on both their records.

[Lurks Often]

19. Is Hillary speaking for herself or she communicating the

Administration's position on the legalization of drugs? In theory, as Secretary of State, she is stating the Administration's position on legalization.

[RobinA]

31. Party Line

Clinton is not this dumb. She's saying what she has to say, badly, because she's a member of the administration. I have no idea what she really believes, but she's not, as Secretary of State, going to come out in favor of legalization. Politics doesn't work that way.

[DonCoquixote]

33. sigh

If she believed in drug legalization, she sure could have done something about it back when she and bill ran the show..why do people think she is some super liberal kept in obama's dungeon?

[bemildred]

20. Thick as a brick.

Perhaps intentionally so, since her argument is also incoherent.

[Wilms]

21. Hillary channels Palin. n/t

[Gregorian]

24. Hey, that sounds like the same reason we can't have a public option.

[conspirator]

25. She means: there is too much money for the status quo and the CIA to give up

the monopoly

[FourScore]

26. Yeah, you can't take away the CIAs' revenues... n/t

[dkofos]

27. Correct, and not just for the drug lords!!

[Prophet 451]

28. My new winner

for "Dumbest Prohibition Supporting Line".

[ReggieVeggie]

29. we know Mrs. Clinton isn't dumb, so that leaves 2 possibilities...

either she was tired and wasn't thinking clearly about the question or her answer, or she admitted to the establishment take on illicit drugs: it's a moneymaker for certain sectors of our own government and legalization would put too many people out of work.

[Little Star]

32. kick

[Poboy]

35. 'Error: you can only recommend threads which were started in the past 24 hours'