AZ - Goddard blasts GOP lawmakers, drug cartels

Goddard blasts GOP lawmakers, drug cartels

By Denise Holley
Published Tuesday, May 12, 2009 9:36 AM MDT

Terry Goddard, Arizonaâ??s attorney general, blasted the budget process led by Republican legislators and took aim at cartel crime across the border when he spoke May 7 in Amado.

Then Goddard dropped a broad hint that he might run for governor in 2010. Members of several Southern Arizona Democratic clubs that sponsored the dinner on the lawn of the Territorial Inn applauded.

â??Weâ??re up against serious criminal threats from the (Mexican) cartels,â? Goddard said. He described the drug cartels as â??coordinated, effective and violent.â?

Goddard supports the Merida Initiative, which calls for cooperation between the U.S., Mexico and Central America to combat drug trafficking and international crime, he said. But he noted that millions of dollars flow from the U.S. to cartels in Mexico.

While an individual can carry no more than $10,000 in cash across the border, criminals can use prepaid stored value cards to transport up to $1 million in funds, Goddard said. â??These have got to stop,â? he said.

â??The money and the market for the cartels to be successful is on this side of the border,â? Goddard said. â??Violence in Mexico is directly attributed to the fact we have the largest demand for drugs in the world.â?

The U.S. has spent billions of dollars trying to suppress and interdict shipments of drugs and the price for those drugs has gone down, Goddard said. â??We should look harder at education and treatment, where spending has stayed the same.â?

He noted that the state meth coalition has reduced methamphetamine use by 50 percent over the past few years.

While Goddard does not support legalization of marijuana at this time, â??if there is a rational way to take the profit out of marijuana, we need to find it,â? he said.

Itâ??s critical for law enforcement agencies to share information and acquire radio equipment that enables them to communicate rapidly with each other, Goddard said. â??Our state and local law enforcement canâ??t talk on the radio with the feds.â?