The original point was that the American drug policy causes a lot of violence. This public beating was used as an example. Would he have been beaten by a cartel if drugs had been legal(ish) in America? It is reasonable to say: no.
Authoritarian states beating their subjects has nothing to do with him being beaten in the streets that night.
> Would he have been beaten by a cartel if drugs had been legal(ish) in America? It is reasonable to say: no.
While I'm against the drug war, I wonder what career drug dealers (and everyone who's part of their economy) would do if drugs were legalized and commoditized.
Would it not lead to an increase of "worse" crimes with "real" victims like kidnapping, human trafficking, robbery, etc. as criminals try to replace their income and sustain their lifestyles?
A huge chunk of low-level drug dealers are just struggling college students. I imagine if drugs were legal and taxed, they could be helped by some of that tax money going towards funding education.
Also, a lot of people go into illegal drug dealing because it is a high risk/high reward avenue, compared to many traditional prospects, where you can make a lot of money with comparatively little time investment. If I remember correctly, that was one of the stated reasons for why Notorious B.I.G. went into drug-dealing, despite being a good student and initially considering going to college for a more traditional high-education career.
Could be.. and I wonder further.. if the non-violent state was able to increase it's funding for security while the violent dealers had their monthly profits reduced.. over time 'the people' would have the increased funding and the violent ones would have less money for guns, hired killers, and such..
Authoritarian states beating their subjects has nothing to do with him being beaten in the streets that night.