Article on Drug Smuggling on Trains

[ALC Rail Writer]

BROWNSVILLE, Texas – When rail cars idle on side tracks in Mexico to be loaded with legitimate cargo and shipped to the United States, drug smugglers scan for places to hide their own loot — and if no good place is apparent, they make one.
Marijuana and cocaine can be concealed above rail car axles or behind false undercarriages made of plywood. Bolder smugglers sometimes weld a false wall into a car or sabotage trains to stop them and quickly stow their contraband on board before the train moves on. Cars are then tagged with graffiti or other markings so the dealer in the U.S. can spot his delivery.

Drug smuggling by rail "is something that for years may have gone under the radar," said Mayor Chad Foster of Eagle Pass, which is expected to become by next year the busiest rail crossing on the U.S.-Mexico border. Creative smugglers, he added, "don't miss a stroke."

Full story here--

 

[Guest]

Not odd at all that Amtrak is not mentioned. The smuggling is being done in freight cars.

 

[ALC Rail Writer]

Not odd at all that Amtrak is not mentioned. The smuggling is being done in freight cars.

That's nice, but a few weeks ago they busted people who were using the CZ just as these men are. The lax security in the railroads applies to freights and Amtrak.

 

[rrdude]

Don't even get me started on drug interdiction. Legalize it, tax the hell out of it, use some of the tax proceeds to help people end their dependence on it, and control it like any other "vice" (tobacco or alcohol). Problem solved. Free up the police so they can chase tax cheats, rapists, burglars, swindlers, murderers, etc, etc. Less or little money spent on enforcement, buku bucks made from tax. Criminal element almost vanishes.

There are so many hundred ways to smuggle drugs onto freight trains it would make your head spin. Same for Amtrak. (thou since no Mexi-USA border crossing, what's the fuss?)

 

[Guest]

Don't even get me started on drug interdiction. Legalize it, tax the hell out of it, use some of the tax proceeds to help people end their dependence on it, and control it like any other "vice" (tobacco or alcohol). Problem solved. Free up the police so they can chase tax cheats, rapists, burglars, swindlers, murderers, etc, etc. Less or little money spent on enforcement, buku bucks made from tax. Criminal element almost vanishes.

Tell me, O wise one, has legalization of liquor since prohibition ended bootlegging? Obvious answer: No. The criminal element doing the larger scale bootlegging did not dissapear either, they just went into new fields.

Therefore, why should we expect legalization of drugs to end drug smuggling. It might reduce the smugglers profits and increase availability, but that is all.

 

[ALC Rail Writer]

No, but ending it brought millions in tax dollars back into the IRS. It also brought a lot of jobs back into the breweries.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

Don't even get me started on drug interdiction. Legalize it, tax the hell out of it, use some of the tax proceeds to help people end their dependence on it, and control it like any other "vice" (tobacco or alcohol). Problem solved. Free up the police so they can chase tax cheats, rapists, burglars, swindlers, murderers, etc, etc. Less or little money spent on enforcement, buku bucks made from tax. Criminal element almost vanishes.

Tell me, O wise one, has legalization of liquor since prohibition ended bootlegging? Obvious answer: No. The criminal element doing the larger scale bootlegging did not dissapear either, they just went into new fields.

Therefore, why should we expect legalization of drugs to end drug smuggling. It might reduce the smugglers profits and increase availability, but that is all.

Drugs ain't a good thing, I am going to tell you that now. I hate them. Hate their use. I think anyone who uses them is an unmitigated moron, regardless of how intelligent they might have been before they started using them. They are bad for you, dangerous, and what's more, they are illogical.

It produces a brief period of pleasure, sure. One can produce brief periods of pleasure with some elbow grease and a wad of toilet paper. So the pleasure aspect is moot. What it also does cause however, is addiction. It costs money. And it might be dangerous for your health- I think it is, most people think it is, but frankly it makes no sense even if it isn't. As I said, addicting, costs money, effects duplicatable for free.

I'll even admit that I tried pot once. I hated it. I thoroughly and categorically hated it. I felt like I was disconnected from reality, and from control of my own body. It wasn't just that though. I do drink liquor. It can do that- although in my opinion to a milder degree. The thing is, first of all, I still feel in control when I'm drunk. I have the mental processes to understand that my thoughts are impaired and compensate accordingly, such as understanding that I can't operate a motor vehicle. High on pot was different.

I felt... disconnected from the disconnection, almost. Like the fact that I can't think clearly was unimportant and didn't matter. Like I didn't care about anything. Comparatively, while drunk I can say to myself, "Man, I'm drunk and it would be dangerous to drive a car. Shouldn't do that." While high, its more like "Man, I'm high and it would be dangerous to drive a car... but, eh, who cares?" I think the reason is the apparent degree of control loss is less. You can operate a car with similar quality when high on pot. You are just damned unlikely to do so, because the person about to crash into you doesn't matter- you don't care.

Whatever. As I said, I don't approve of drug use, and rarely associate with people who do. They are committing what is in my opinion the second cardinal sin. The two cardinal sins in my opinion are: 1) Hurting other people without need, and 2) being repeatedly stupid.

I'm railing so that nobody can accuse me of being a druggie or supporting drug use when I say the next part.

Which is that it should be legalized.

Why?

1. There is no benefit to it being illegal. The screwed up idiots that need to escape from themselves will find their escape, if they have to use gasolene from their mommies car to do it.
   
2. You can't control that which you do not allow. One of the major problems in the drug situation is that dealers hype them up, cut them with more addictive or dangerous things, use various dangerous things to cut the quantity per dollar, and so on. Make it legal and you can regulate such things, like they do with cigarettes.
   
3. People commiting crimes do not wish to be caught. They will commit violence to avoid it. If they have nothing to avoid, the violence from that avoidence goes away.
   
4. Criminal organizations compete in violent ways. They kill each other and hurt each other, and innocent bystanders get hurt by the cross fire. Get rid of the criminal elements, no more cross fire.
   
5. By attempting to prosecute every single possession of drugs, you make the system worthless. Many judges don't want to send a kid to prison for making a dumb mistake- and don't. A law this all-emompassing becomes ineffective, like the 55 mph speed limit did.
   
6. You can concentrate the police on the real criminals in this area, particularly the degenerate SOBs that attempt to addict our children and teenagers when they don't have the ability to understand what they are getting into.
   
7. The Government can tax the usage of these drugs, which they can't now, creating a monetary windfall that can be used for all sorts of better uses than enforcing the unenforcable. Like drug rehab clinics. Actually, I think there would be so much left over after establishing an enviable drug rehab system that they could fund other things- like Amtrak.