Mexican Weed- ethical?

[PerseusStoned]

Hey everybody,

I was just wondering what everyone's feelings about buying weed that has obviously come from a gang, in particular weed being moved from Mexico. No judgments are being cast here or anything, we're all friends, I'm just looking to see what others opinions are on these situations.

When I was younger I use to buy from guys in my high school who ran with gangs; I remember hanging out with one of them when he got a call, calmly pulled a pistol from his jeans, and left the party. I was about 13 at the time and felt really uncomfortably around weapons (I still do, but its not so visible). Since graduating high school I've tried to be more conscious about where I buy my weed from. Personally, I feel a little uncomfortable knowing that my money might be helping fund violence and murder in Mexico, or even in the states. Anymore I buy from guys I know have connections to local growers.

What are other people's opinions on this?

Should it matter? I do understand one line of moral thinking is that since you are not the person who is doing the violence (or maybe you are) its ultimately not your decision what others do and its not up to you to violate their free-will and prevent them from acting however they please. Anyone else want to weigh in?

 

[stickstones]

My first thought is that I never know where anything I get came from, and that is probably the case with most of the weed transactions out there. So any action on my part would be pure speculation anyhow. That being said, the violence in Mexico is one of the reasons being used for the case for legalization. So that violence is helping our overall cause.

 

[PerseusStoned]

While I do agree that decriminalization and legalization is desperately needed to help curtail gang violence, in particular with what is going on in Mexico, I would never say that the violence and murders going on ever "[help] our cause". Because of my lurking, I know you are a peaceful person stickstones and did not intend it that way at all, but I know I would never touch the herb again if it meant that those poor people in Mexico could be safe from all the violence surrounding them.

 

[stickstones]

And that's probably the biggest problem. We don't know where our shit comes from. Do you remember the anti-drug campaigns that were promoting drug use as support of terrorism? What a crock of shit. Like anyone knows where my bag came from.

I hear you on not wanting to contribute to that situation there, but don't lose any sleep over it. That's one problem with the balck market...you never know what you are going to get.

That being said, I would love to purchase as you are instead of on the street. If I had a choice between a local guy and who knows what, I'd take the local guy every time, quality being equal.

 

[lwien]

It sure seems like the border towns in Mexico are becoming more dangerous than the streets in Iraq.

 

[albe]

only choice we have where i live is the black market stuff... its all very ethically dodgy to me. But most of that falls at the feet of governments and media (and voters) who perpetuate the current system. At least thats how i rationalise it...
If more trustworthy people could get into a legal market, then it'd be better for all concerned. (Aside from those who profit from the 'war on drugs'... )

 

[SSS]

fortunately, mmj is legal in my state so i know my grower. in past times, often i had no idea how many people were gunned down to get me a sack.

 

[MoeOnTheMoon]

I think most people will simply do what is easiest for them.
If I had an option to buy from a gang or not, I would not.
If I even had to pay a little more to buy the non-gang mj I would do so.
But the bottom line is you often don't know and you often don't have a whole lot of choice in the matter. If you live in one of the majority of states where it is not legally available at a co-op, then you really have to either buy what you can get, or not buy at all. I doubt anyone here is going to "not buy at all" based on it coming from a Mexican gang.

I live in Southern CA and my wife is Mexican and we used to go down to Tijuana and on to Ensenada by bus or car for a nice day in Mexico. Since this drug war thing started up we are now afraid to go there! It's a shame because the Mexican economy is really bad now and without tourism even more of them are going to be hurting to make ends meet.

WITH the sale of pot by gangs Mexico is hurting, and if it's legalized here, they'll also hurt, economically (because I doubt we'll allow Mexican pot to be sold here legally). Mexico is losing out no matter what!

It's their own fault in a way for letting the organized crime get so powerful. Their law enforcement has always been plagued by being bought and sold by anyone with a few dollars. Now it's coming back to haunt them in a big way.

 

[Bruce@Zephyr]

As has been stated already, unless you are growing or know the grower nobody really knows where the money is going. Even if you know the grower, you don't know where the money is going. how do you know he isn't using your money to fund his kiddieporn habit? I do think it is best to try to only have transactions with folks you trust, but following a money trail never really seems to lead to a good place.

Legalization to curtail violence is a joke. I will vote for it if it will get things legal but come on now,... if I were a drug dealer/runner/mule and I ran MJ across the border, and MJ was cut off as a source of income, would I quit my job and start farming or use my same routes to run other things across the border? A tunnel does not care what gets passed through it's walls.

 

[SmogTown]

A couple signatures by the right people on the right pieces of paper and most the trouble associated with drug prohibition would end overnight. So the only people who should feel guilty are the politicians and pro-prohibitionist's. They enable the black market and all the evil associated with it.

 

[lwien]

A couple signatures by the right people on the right pieces of paper and most the trouble associated with drug prohibition would end overnight. So the only people who should feel guilty are the politicians and pro-prohibitionist's. They enable the black market and all the evil associated with it.

But like Bruce said above, the black market is not going to go away.........even if we legalize MJ. The black market will continue, either by undercutting the pricing on legalized bud, or they will simply turn to a different commodity.

 

[DevoTheStrange]

A couple signatures by the right people on the right pieces of paper and most the trouble associated with drug prohibition would end overnight. So the only people who should feel guilty are the politicians and pro-prohibitionist's. They enable the black market and all the evil associated with it.

But like Bruce said above, the black market is not going to go away.........even if we legalize MJ. The black market will continue, either by undercutting the pricing on legalized bud, or they will simply turn to a different commodity.

There is also the possibility that they will stop pushing cheap brick weed across the border if it gets legalized and start pushing higher quality, cheaper bud.

 

[PerseusStoned]

Do you remember the anti-drug campaigns that were promoting drug use as support of terrorism? What a crock of shit. Like anyone knows where my bag came from.

Ha ha, yeah I do. I've seen quite a few ridiculous anti-drug campaigns in my day. Oddly enough, thats what made me first start smoking. I'd been around it for almost 5 years before I first touched the stuff, and the only reason I did is because I've recognized so many lies from my "Health" classes at school involving D.A.R.E. I wanted the truth for myself and man am I glad I saw through the haze... and then produced it

I doubt anyone here is going to "not buy at all" based on it coming from a Mexican gang.

Very true. If it was unknown for me I guess I'd do the same thing.

I live in Southern CA and my wife is Mexican and we used to go down to Tijuana and on to Ensenada by bus or car for a nice day in Mexico. Since this drug war thing started up we are now afraid to go there! It's a shame because the Mexican economy is really bad now and without tourism even more of them are going to be hurting to make ends meet.

This ties into what lwien said earlier, which is really too bad. That must be pretty hard on her, not being able to go back to her hometown. I would love to be able to freely visit Mexico back in the day, but now I am glad there is some distance between us.

Even if you know the grower, you don't know where the money is going. how do you know he isn't using your money to fund his kiddieporn habit? I do think it is best to try to only have transactions with folks you trust, but following a money trail never really seems to lead to a good place.

The growers I know are all too into the dope to ever spend money on anything except more bud variants I guess I am privileged in that I work with a few growers, but I guess anyone could be up to anything without you knowing it.

The black market will continue, either by undercutting the pricing on legalized bud, or they will simply turn to a different commodity.

I dunno, I think cannabis is one of the few rare markets that would be safe from the black market (assuming standard growing subsidies are given to growers and it is not taxed more severely than expected). Large-scale grow operations with no possibilities of being raided? All of a sudden we have weed produced on an industrial mass scale with unbelievable quality being sold almost at cost. Meanwhile the black market has to do smaller scale operations with an emphasis on stealth or large-scale with an emphasis on mass transportation. Either way, they're operating at a loss and at a risk.

 

[Beezleb]

I see it this way. Blame the government for making the ecosystem that allows for the black market to be so profitable.

I believe like it or not, we have to deal with the drugs from south and central America criminal organizations. It is not going to go away. So I would like to see the atmosphere be changed so that it was legal to be sold.

I know its not so easy but in my fantasy land, thats how its done.

 

[Frickr]

even though these gangs transport other comodities such as coke and heroin, marijuana is a much larger market. not every one that smokes weed also does these other drugs, so if these people can buy it from a licensed and regulated essablishment (like a liquor store) thats going to be a huge financial loss for these illegal opperations. their illegal trade of marijuana isnt going to be replaced over night by the other harder drugs unless if there is suddenly a surge in people wanting hard drugs.

think of all the people that rely solely on drugs being illegal. they want nothing more then for them to stay illegal so that their profit margins are still high in an artificially inflated market. the last thing they want is for pot to become legalized, because most of these people will be run out of business.

Why buy pot from some shady guy on the street, of unknown quality, and well, unknown everything about it, when you could go to an asstablishment and get something of known quality and coming from a reliable sorce?

the gangs that are into selling drugs, usually deal with all drugs, the market for the otherdrugs will stay close to the same im sure, so legalizing weed wont drive them completely out of the water, but it will be a big cut in their finances.

 

[xaustinx]

^ agreed frickr


plus think about how much weed that they would physically have to be moving to make enough profit to make it worth their while after legalization

they'd have to pour more money into getting more people to bring it in which would result in more seizures,

theyd be hurting big time


Edit: I just thought about what I just said, and I take it back because they could just bring it in legally. We need to write a clause in legalization bills that illegalizes importation (sorry netherlands, canada, etc.) so that it would all be a US based business, which equals more money for us anyways. With free reign over breeding choices, I dont really care if I get anything else from foreign countries because the amount of new killer strains would be endless

 

[bcleez]

If you feel bad about doing this you probably don't want to buy any oil or oil based products... lots of bodies piled up for that oil!!

 

[macbill]

I'm lucky in that I know the grower of that which I consume. But that is certainly more a recent event in my 40 years or so of consumption.

Ya gots to do what ya gots to do.

I think I've rationalized it in the past: thinking the problem lay in trafficers of harder drugs: cocaine, meth, and heroin. But, really, only a fool would believe the trafficers are different breeds of cat: surely they are one and the same.

It is a conundrum. I'm quite certain should only mex weed become available to me, I would consume it. I might feel guilty, but there it is.

 

[DevoTheStrange]

Here is an article from CNN put out tuesday regarding Mexico and MJ
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/02/02/us.mexico.marijuana/index.html?section=cnn_latest
Former Mexican Official Urges Legalization of Marijuana.

 

[Qbit]

Yes, illicit drug use doesn't support terrorism and other crime - prohibition does. Those who suggest otherwise are either stupid or corrupt.