Everybody says that legalizing marijuana will mean the cartels can no longer profit off the illegal sale of narcotics, but don't the stats indicate that most is grow in the U.S? then Canada THEN Mexico and other places? Even if it did cut off a source of their income, isn't it just a tiny bit? Isn't like 95% of their revenue raised through trafficking cocaine and heroin? Why do people bring up the drug war in mexico stats as a justification for legalising marijuana? I'm for it as much as the next avid smoker but i'm also for the legalisation of all drugs. This is the only thing that could cut off the cartel for good.
According to the ONDCP, two-thirds of the cartels' money comes from selling marijuana in the U.S. To quote John Walters (former director of the ONDCP), "marijuana, not heroin or cocaine, is the "bread and butter," "the center of gravity" for Mexican drug cartels". It's the sale of marijuana in the U.S. that provides the cartels with the bulk of the money they use to buy arms and pay their hitmen. Allowing supermarkets to sell legally-grown marijuana to adults at prices low enough to prevent illegal competition will eliminate two-thirds of the cartels' revenue and bankrupt them - especially when you consider that about half their income is spent on corrupting the government and police. If they can't make these payoffs they'll lose the protection they've enjoyed up to now and will be more likely to be targeted by the police and have their drug shipments intercepted. The cartels may want to replace this lost income by increasing their sales of cocaine and other hard drugs but that would only be possible if demand for these drugs also increased - and given that marijuana would be legally available, that would probably not happen.
Marijuana is big business for the cartel. Almost everybody smokes even people who are publicly against it have been known to smoke. Once it is legalized there will be many more sources without a criminal background where your bud can come from which means no one needs to get their bud through cartels because a) no one wants to deal with gangbangers. b) Better prices. Homegrown USA farmed bud is gonna be cheaper for the same quality then cartel bud because that shit has to be imported.
The legalization of all drugs is needed. I don't get how people that advocate for marijuana legalization can't just say, all drugs. Granted I know, it's the U.S. and in this nation we take baby steps, but come on. This whole page "Legalization and Activism" should be supporting the idea of legalizing all drugs.
Also, people need to realized, legalization of marijuana will not do too much for the cartels, they will simply start growing cocaine/heroin in the place that once had pot plants...driving the price of cocaine and heroin down...making it more pleasing to people.
lots of great weed is grown here in the states, and most states with medical use laws have local growers, but hey we got a big country and the cartels have deep ties for distribution. Tons of weed is brought in to satisfy our demand and the big boys are still the big players.
OP has a point. I've spammed that Drug War stat every where decrim is mentioned. Notice, though, that I have never made a distinction between the War on Drugs and Marijuana Prohibition. Sure, cartels will still profit wildly for as long as we prohibit anything. Prohibition is simply giving up control of something to someone else. I am for the regulation, and hence control, of ALL drug markets. Obviously, some need MUCH more regulation than others. Still, I can't think of one dangerous illegal drug that doesn't already have an equally dangerous pharmaceutical relative. Can you? Prohibition is all about turning an uncontrollable demand into black market profits. It has nothing to do with keeping you safe, as evidenced by deaths and addiction due to Big Pharma alternatives.