From marketwatch.com: Drug wars: Big Pharma, Afghan, Mexican cartels

[MindPilot]

ARROYO GRANDE, Calif. (MarketWatch) -- Mexican drug lord "El Chapo" made the Forbes list of billionaires earlier this year. No, you can't make this stuff up: He runs the Sinaloa cartel, a major supplier of cocaine to the United States. He's an assassin, another bin Laden ... and Forbes honors him right up there with the world billionaires.

But that got me thinking: In legitimizing "El Chapo" isn't Forbes edging us toward decriminalizing all illegal drugs? Farfetched? Or maybe signaling a fundamental shift in America's attitude toward illegal drugs?

snip

Meanwhile, "north of the border, the drug lords are as corporate and hyperorganized as Wal-Mart, replacing the top-down approach of their Colombian predecessors with a new business model, a business model that works so well they don't want to upset it: "With business booming -- prices are steady and demand remains high -- unleashing a Mexican-style rampage in this country would only risk riling up U.S. law enforcement."

In that way, the Mexican cartels resemble Big Pharma's efforts to kill healthcare reform in America, neither wants to upset a very profitable business model.

[ixion]

1. so once again the social conservatives agree with thugs

and thus we continue the so-called 'war' on drugs, which is really just a war on the domestic populace.

[JDPriestly]

2. Is this newspaper really so surprised that Forbes lists criminals among its heroes?

I thought that was what its list of richest was about. It's hard to make that much money without hurting other people really badly.