Our drugs come from Colombia, Mexico, and China (fentanyl)

Good to hear that most of that crowd immediately called BS on this.

drugs.

Probably couldn't get any opium out of them...they were very small.... but an enterprising farmer could have done a little crossbreeding.

I grew poppies for decoration and poppy seed recipes. They are the same poppy just bred for other things aside from opium.

I always wondered why we let other countries corner the drug markets in the US. I mean capitalism and Libertarianism would definitely allow for supplying the drug markets. And a dick tater shouldn't have problems with supplying the US drug markets, unless they need an excuse to attack another country.

Nor is toppling the Maduro government. The drugs will flow one way or another.

This all seems to be just some whim that got stuck in Donnie's head and the "yes people" did what they were told. The problem with that is the aftermath. The blow back.

The drugs are still going to flow. Maybe a change of leadership there too but people likey the drugs.

They'll allow him to export all the drugs he wants, with extra for Don Jr.

It's always about the money.

... nationalized their oil reserves, it was, as I understand it, in response to the predatory actions of American oil companies' not honoring the trade agreements that allowed them to prospect for, and extract, crude oil in areas on which they held leases.
An honest oil company executive is like a unicorn. It doesn't exist.

And who's to say the replacement Venezuelan regime won't keep the status quo.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/12/02/trump-juan-orlando-hernandez-pardon-honduras-drugs/87564181007/

Trump pardons cocaine kingpin who ruled Honduras
Trump said Nov. 28 that he planned to pardon the former Honduran leader, and a White House official confirmed Dec. 2 that the pardon had been issued.
Zac Anderson and Nick Penzenstadler | USA TODAY
Updated Dec. 2, 2025, 4:42 p.m. ET

President Donald Trump pardoned a former Honduran leader sentenced to prison on cocaine distribution charges, a move some Democrats say undercuts the rationale for Trump's aggressive posture toward Venezuela that includes military strikes on alleged drug boats.

Trump said Nov. 28 that he planned to pardon former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez. A White House official and Hernandez's attorney, Renato Stabile, confirmed Dec. 2 that the pardon has been issued. Stabile said Hernandez was released early Dec. 2 from a federal prison, where he was serving a 45-year sentence "for cocaine importation and related weapons offenses," according to the Justice Department.

Hernandez was convicted in March of 2024 after a three-week jury trial in New York City. He was "at the center of one of the largest and most violent drug-trafficking conspiracies in the world," helping to bring more than 400 tons of cocaine into the U.S., the Justice Department said in a news release last year after his conviction.

...

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DR5MYvvkbnG/?igsh=dGRqbnZtb2lqYzk0

Then attack the roots of the problem. Life is hard, even for the most secure. We all want our escapes, whether religion, or reading, or even driving out to the ever-shrinking wilderness. For so many, drugs are that escape. The problem is that they tend to compound the pain and difficulty being escaped from in the first place.

We have to look for ways to improve people's lives, being compassionate and genuinely caring. Preaching to the crowds won't help. Policies that don't harm people just for existing are only a start.

I don't think "just say no" is the answer when so many feel there is no other escape available to them.

Apologies for the rant. I just feel that the U.S. itself shoulders a lot of the blame for this by our very culture and politics of denial.

of smuggling 400 tons of coke