“If you look at the drug war from a purely economic point of view, the role of the government is to protect the drug cartel. That's literally true.”

This so called War on Drugs does exactly what Mr. Friedman says. Thugs get rich, crime increases, jail population increases, lives are ruined, drugs are more available to children, law enforcement is corrupted, and all because of this drug war.

Gotta keep that "War on Drugs" going...unless of course you're Big Pharma, the single largest lobby in Congress. Prohibition is nothing more than an excuse to tax and control.

Too true! Without the war on drugs there would be no DRUG CARTEL!

For ages people have resisted having dope emporiums on their street or in their town. People also, as a general rule, wish to discourage or indict certain types of persons congregating or hanging around their impressionable children and inflicting them with certain habits. The drug war is nothing more than this. I think Friedman did not explain himself very well here.

Waffler, the same thing could be said about "progressives", They're disgusting and I don't want them congregating on my street or influencing my children....off with their heads! LOL

Scum-Boma is condoning/supporting the *Cartel* in Mexico. Why do you think he ignores the border issue? Besides...he has his own little army of czars to intimidate who he pleases, and he gets away with that and the corruption is so thick, you could cut it with a knife. Progressives/Lib-Tards are THE nastiest, most hateful people on the planet.

There is a huge difference between what government protects to secure its interests and the lawful desires of individual sovereigns.

Just as Prohibition created huge profits for the Mafia and endangered the lives of many innocent people caught in the cross-fire - the same can be said for the so-called "War On Drugs" and its instrumentation of the Drug Cartels. In every country where they have de-criminalized drugs the drug crimes have been obliterated and the youth have all but lost their interest in drug experimentation.

I agree, Look at what is happening in Mexico.