The murder of two Guardia Civil in Barbate

While my heart goes out to the two Guardia Civil agents murdered in Barbate the other day while trying to tackle illegal hashish smuggling, I was depressed with Santiago Abascal, Vox’s leader, claiming the only problem was that the two agents lacked proper equipment. Not that I disagree with the outrage at the Guardia Civil bosses, and ultimately the government, failing to have given these men the proper equipment to do what is unquestionably the dangerous job of stopping hashish smugglers landing launches on the coast just east of Gibraltar, what I disagree with is the whole purpose for which these two men gave their lives, trying to prevent hashish being smuggled from Morocco into Spain. The Guardia Civil is, among other duties, the equivalent of the UK Border Force. Vox claims to support Javier Milei, who at least in theory supports the legalisation of drugs. This is, I think, because if you support the concept that the state should have a monopoly on violence and no other purpose, as outlined by Milei at Davos in January 2024, then a voluntary transaction between a buyer and a seller of hashish is a non-violent action, assuming that both sides are honest.

Surely the solution is to legalize cannabis in Spain. If cannabis were already legal in Spain, these two agents would still be alive. However, it would need to be legalised in such a way that the goal was the elimination of the current illegal market and not raising taxes. In places like California and Canada, the greed of the politicians in power for tax dollars was stronger than their desire to eliminate the narco gangs. And getting rid of the gangs is the best way to prevent the loss of further life among serving Guardia Civil agents, and possibly others. The drug trade blights towns such as Barbate and the better-known La Línea and most of the profit goes into very few hands. If an agreement could be made to sell hashish legally between Morocco and Sàin, the market could be taken over by legitimate business people who settle their disputes, if necessary, in civil courts, not in gunfights. Spain is not a wealthy country and simply cannot afford economically to wage this fight against the narcos, given the money would be better spent by Spaniards, who with greater purchasing power will spend more and stimulate the economy. So we all pay for this struggle against cannabis, even while everyone admits that it is everywhere in Spain, and extremely popular among young people so it isn’t as if this battle has achieved any notable positive results.