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Hopefully this has a 'Veronica Guerin' effect. An Irish crime reporter was killed for being too curious by drug bosses. The subsequent Garda investigation was
by s_dev 5y ago
Hopefully this has a 'Veronica Guerin' effect.
An Irish crime reporter was killed for being too curious by drug bosses. The subsequent Garda investigation was so intense and far reaching that it's estimated the the drug operations lost huge money over the coming years -- the Irish state implemented news laws and even the creation of 'Criminal Assets Bureau' came from Veronicas death.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veronica_Guerin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veronica_Guerin
- spixy 5y agoMurder of journalist led to protests and resignation of prime minister and change of some part of government 2 years ago in Slovakia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_J%C3%A1n_Kuciak https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_J%C3%A1n_Kuciak
- the-dude 5y agoAs a Dutch citizen I am bit worried about what they will do to obtain an alternative income stream. I am not really harmed by the drug trade. I would be harmed by robberies on the street or in the home.
- TheGigaChad 5y agoYou have the dumbest take for 2021!
- dannyw 5y agoSociety is harmed by people who murder journalists.
- the-dude 5y agoDoesn't compare to being robbed and or mugged. I live in a city center, this already happens on occasion very near to my home. I don't need more of it.
- hyperbovine 5y agoFirst, they came for the journalists...
- oytis 5y agoBeing murdered doesn't compare to being robbed?
- rualca 5y ago> Being murdered doesn't compare to being robbed? I believe OP's point is that an exceptionally rare assassination of a random person does not compare to frequent robberies of people close to you.
- oytis 5y agoIt's not a random person. It's a person who did something mafia didn't want him to do and was killed because of that. So basically mafia can dictate what you are allowed to do and kill you if you don't obey. Doesn't sound like a safe environment, does it?
- lb1lf 5y ago-Guess what: many muggings are committed by drug addicts in need of funds to finance their habit; regulate the drug business and much of that crime segment will go away.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- kekebo 5y agoYou may not be affected by the drug trade directly but potentially by what that drug trade finances (e.g. acquisition of weapons).
- the-dude 5y agoThey are wise enough to only use these weapons in their own conflicts, which do not include me.
- Denvercoder9 5y agoThere have been at least two innocent people murdered because they got the wrong person.
- zabzonk 5y agoBecause drive-by shootings that kill innocent, uninvolved people are not a thing?
- zepto 5y ago> Because drive-by shootings that kill innocent, uninvolved people are not a thing? They really aren’t a thing. Certainly not in the Netherlands. Even in the US, it’s an exceptionally rare cause of death of no significance at all.
- zabzonk 5y ago> They really aren’t a thing. They really are in the UK. > cause of death of no significance at all Of course, someone's needless death is of no significance. You have probably never heard of John Donne, but: "Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankind; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee."
- smcl 5y agoI've been out of the country for a few years but ... are you telling me that drive-by shootings have become a serious problem in the UK? Last I checked shootings of any kind were extremely rare. I would imagine drive-by shootings would therefore be so vanishingly rare that you could only really say they were "a thing" insofar as they have taken place there at some point, not as any sort of significant consideration when discussing drugs policy.
- oytis 5y agoIs successfully fighting organized crime not an option?
- scandox 5y agoYou are harmed by the drug trade. You live in a society where a totally unregulated industry allows bad people to get very rich and exercise illegitimate power through violence and corruption. You live in a society where young people become addicts and rob and harm the people they love and then die prematurely.
- the-dude 5y agoFrom your description, it does not really affect me.
- vimy 5y agoMocro maffia has already infiltrated the justice and police departement. It’s detrimental to the rule of law and very hard to get rid of once corruption takes root in those departments. A weakened rule of law will affect everyone.
- jacquesm 5y agoPolice I will readily believe, justice department would require some pretty hard evidence though, did I miss something important?
- vimy 5y ago> De Antwerpse criminelen hebben zoveel geld dat ze alles en iedereen kunnen kopen. De voorbije jaren zijn een corrupte douanier en verschillende havenarbeiders veroordeeld voor hand- en spandiensten aan drugsbendes. Een groepje top-IT'ers hackte grote rederijen in opdracht van de drugsmaffia. Ook het gerecht en de politie zijn geïnfiltreerd. 'Het is stilaan abnormaal als we in grote drugsdossiers geen lekken vanuit de politie of het parket naar criminelen ontdekken', is de schokkende commentaar in Antwerpse gerechtelijke kringen. Quote from three years ago, after Mocro Maffia set up shop in Belgium. Belgium is a couple years behind The Netherlands. So there's no doubt about it, things are even worse in The Netherlands. Belgium is now in the throw-grenades-at-homes phase but no public executions yet. Matter of time...
- trentnix 5y agoI am not really harmed by the drug trade. I would be harmed by robberies on the street or in the home. The latter comes packaged with the former.
- sime2009 5y agoThat is more of an issue where you have high drug usage. Drug traffickers generally aren't in the robbery and petty crime business. Most of the drugs in the Netherlands are passing through to elsewhere in Europe.
- zqna 5y agoDefine petty. Drugs and theft are pretty much connected. It's widely "accepted" in Dutch society that your bicycle might be stolen anytime by a junkie. My car's windows were smashed several times over years, and I tend to think that thieves are more likely to spend their profits on drugs and alcohol than on books, bread or rock concerts. Meanwhile Dutch police doesn't investigate any of this "petty" crime. Instead they boast that the occupation of prisons is in all time low, and that they are rented prison space to other countries. Wonder, if anything will change, considering the prevailing "pragmatic" - "it doesn't affect me if my wallet isn't affected" attitude in the Dutch society.
- the-dude 5y agoWhile I agree that bike theft by junkies has been a widespread fenomenem in Dutch society, it has largely died out here in Groningen ( presumably because the junkies died out ).
- atatatat 5y agoInteresting take.
- jacquesm 5y agoNo, the junkies did not die out. What happened is that we enacted a bunch of legislation that made it possible to help people get treatment and replacement drugs instead of having to steal bikes or car radios. The added benefit is that if you are using a playground you no longer have to be overly concerned about stepping into needles.
- bondarchuk 5y agoThe difference between drugs and most other crimes like robberies or extortion is that drugs have a huge demand side as well as a supply side. Your idea seems to be that the illegal drug trade is a sort of daycare for criminals, and there's a certain fixed amount of criminals that will do illegal things, and therefore switch to the next-best illegal thing when the previous one gets legalized. I think that's unrealistic when you consider the money that incentivizes people to go into the illegal drug trade.
- runlevel1 5y agoA morbid Streisand effect