To Soften Violence, Legalize Cocaine?

Tonight, just a thought on securing our southern border.

The massive drug war down in Mexico -- 28,000 murders have been attributed to it in the past four years -- is prompting people there to re-think how they deal with the drug cartels. The nation's past president, Vincente Fox, has an answer: just make all drugs legal, no exceptions -- cocaine and heroine along with the rest.

That way, he suggests the drug cartels will have nothing to kill people over.

The debate over legalizing drugs is exploding in Mexico, with four proposals making their way through the country's House of Deputies.

I would hope Mexico doesn't legalize drugs. Fox wants both the production and sales legalized. I would imagine legalizing production would only lead to more of it being produced, which isn't good for the U.S.

The U.S., if you didn't know it, is the largest drug-consuming nation in the world. We are much of the market fueling the troubles south of the border. The weapons being used south of the border come from the U.S., 90 percent of them, reportedly.

So, we are part of the problem, and it is our problem, too.

It is also Utah's problem. A few weeks ago, Mexican nationals were arrested at a drug farm near Cedar City. And, along with Arizona and the rest of the nation, we are considering Utah solutions in how to handle the illegal residents.

I say, let those without paperwork in. Let them stay, and make it so they can get paperwork. Many of them -- on threat of life -- are being forced to carry drugs across the border with them. Instead of Mexico's legalizing drugs, we should legalize immigration. If the poor person wanting to come to the U.S. for a job is coming here legally, he will no longer be sneaking across. He will be passing through a border checkpoint where we can search his vehicle for drugs.

Stop crime, not immigrants.

Instead of fighting the man without paperwork, we should be fighting drugs crossing our border. It is a matter of what you emphasis. If you are out to get immigrants and politely escort them back to their own country, well, that's one way to stop immigrants coming without their paperwork.

What about stopping drugs? As a policy, we don't even call to see if the person caught at the border is wanted in his home jurisdiction. And, how many drug sniffing dogs are there? Do we have enough? Are they at every border checkpoint, and also positioned so they can be taken to those caught crossing illegally?

We should be doing more to fight the flow of drugs, emphasizing that instead of just stopping those without paperwork.