Well, I for one don't see the current "balloon" as a terribly bad thing. Everyone has a hard-on for the HA because they keep their shit quiet, but they're just as detrimental and awful for society as this new breed of ultraviolent gangs. So if both groups of people are scum, and one of them gets the public angry enough to do something about it, then good.
Before you say that the HA is better because the public isn't harmed, fuck that; the HA is why kids get meth-laced joints. I have no problem with people doing drugs, but giving children highly addictive, incredibly harmful drugs is fucking awful.
As for solving the gang problems, my solutions are pipe dreams. I mean, we have a government and public that can't wrap their heads around more intelligent drug control… how can we expect ANYTHING to get done? I think its obvious I'm in the "prohibition doesn't work, so legalize almost everything and send my kids to college for free with the tax revenues it brings in" camp.
I think this image should be posted in every discussion like this:
Anyway, there will always be people who are not willing to take the traditional routes to becoming rich (lawyer, banker, doctor, political scumbag, etc.), and some of them will be quite smart. That's a problem, and until things change a LOT, people will find things that are in demand but inaccessible through legal channels, and profit from them.
So yeah, if you're looking for 2 simple solutions from me: one would be to revamp our ridiculous drug laws, and two would be to socially ostracize gang members. They just want money and power, like everyone else, but if their money wont get them a seat in a restaurant or their ass wiped by Majin, then what good is it?
I know, both my solutions are totally unrealistic; that's why I haven't piped up in this thread really.
Credit where it's due: that is the most intelligent post in here, and I can't disagree.
Just because the HA "do it quietly" doesn't make them better. Besides, apparently most of these gangs (UN, etc.) are tied to the HA in one way or another- HA being top dog.
The effects and relative harm of pot- at this time- are irrelevant. At this point they are illegal, and because they are illegal, the drug is a massive factor in a hugely sophisticated black market. Around here, pot is not only a drug, but a bartering currency. It is a huge contributor to the influx of illegal guns, coke, you name it.
So is the solution to keep beating one's head against the wall trying to "win the war on drugs", or is it time that- as a society- we wake up, and recognize the "drug" for what it is: relatively harmless (like alcohol is considered), and maybe it should be legalized, produced, and marketed around the globe just like alcohol products are.
At least it will be one less "drug" the authorities need to worry about, and it will eliminate one of the significant factors in the industry. Eliminating it as a factor will make the movement of the real dangerous products that much more difficult, and therefore fewer players will be involved.
***Disclaimer: this post is in no way, shape, or form intended to insult anybody, anything, any animal, any lifeform, or non lifeform, or otherwise, of any kind.