Legalized marijuana is cutting into Drug Cartel profits

Something that Drug War opponents have been saying for years.  From The Washington Post.

Relevant sentences: “The data supports the many stories about the difficulties marijuana growers in Mexico face in light of increased competition from the north. As domestic marijuana production has ramped up in places such as California, Colorado and Washington, marijuana prices have fallen, especially at the bulk level.

“Two or three years ago, a kilogram [2.2 pounds] of marijuana was worth $60 to $90,” a Mexican marijuana grower told NPR news in December 2014. “But now they’re paying us $30 to $40 a kilo. It’s a big difference. If the U.S. continues to legalize pot, they’ll run us into the ground.””

Drug prohibition is the reason the drug cartels exist in the first place, along with the black market crime rampant in the US, as well as the proliferating bureaucracies that have been set up to combat the effects of prohibition.  End prohibition and crime will evaporate, and the DEA and other Drug War agencies will have no reason to exist.

Author: S. Smith