Please note the sentences I've put in bold. WTF is he talking about?
Regards,
Louis of PA

P.S. I mistrust reporters these days; or his editor might have edited something out of the interview, something that changes the meaning.


in today's washingtonpost.com.

A Conversation With Terry Goddard, Attorney General of Arizona


Sunday, April 5, 2009

As Mexico's war against its drug cartels heats up, Arizona is becoming a front-line state. Phoenix leads the nation in kidnappings. The border south of Tucson and Yuma has become the main conduit for smuggling drugs and illegal immigrants into the United Statesicon. Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard has made waves for employing controversial techniques to fight money laundering and for suggesting that the United States might need to rethink its drug laws. Goddard spoke with Outlook's John Pomfret about Mexico, marijuana and an operation known as Tumbleweed. Excerpts:


Is Mexico a failed state?

No. Not even close. The thing that I find appalling about the failed-state analysis is that the instability and the violence is precisely because the Calderón administration made the strategic decision to take on the cartels and to reestablish national sovereignty and the rule of law. And we're criticizing them for it.

Is Mexico's violence going to spread north?

Yes. I hate to say that, but I don't think there's anything about our current response that keeps it from coming north.

Talking to one of the border sheriffs recently, I asked: How long do you think it will be before there's a violent episode in your county? And his response was, I think it'll happen this year. It's going to be a gun battle between two criminal organizations and one of my rookies is going to get caught in the crossfire.

Most Americans think that drug smugglers make their big profits off cocaine, but you say otherwise.


Marijuana is the horse. Marijuana is the profit center for the cartels. We think approximately 65 percent of the total revenue that the cartels get from drug smuggling is based on marijuana. You could say indirectly that much of the carnage in Mexico is financed because of profits from marijuana.

Should marijuana be legal?


I personally don't think so. But I believe that we need to put all of the various options on the table. Legalization is one of those options. Would it reduce the profits of the cartels?

Would it increase the risk to the population of the United States?

I don't have the ability to answer those questions. It might reduce the profits, but on the other hand, I don't believe I've ever heard an adequate answer for what is an acceptable amount of marijuana in a school bus driver's bloodstream.

What about preventing people from taking drugs?


We do a lousy job. I think there was so much adverse reaction to the Reefer Madness campaigns and some of Nancy Reagan's histrionics that there's a perception that prevention doesn't work. I don't happen to believe that. Here in Arizona, the Arizona Meth Project has actually cut the use by teenagers of methamphetamines in half in just two years.

The Obama administration wants to cut the guns going to Mexico. But in many states, including Arizona, if you buy multiple handguns you have to fill out a form, but you can buy an infinite number of AK-47s without filling out a form.


It does seem logical that if you could buy a two-shot Derringer, and if you bought more than one of them, you'd have to fill out a separate multiple-weapons form, which puts ATF on notice that you bought multiple Derringers. But if you're buying multiple AK-47s you don't have to fill out a similar multiple-weapons form.


So you favor closing that loophole?


Oh, absolutely.


Aren't you afraid of the NRA?

I'm not afraid of them. I'm respectful of them.

See washingtonpost.com for rest of this weird article.
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