If the drug war has resulted in 28,000 deaths in Mexico and marijuana is the cartel’s #1 money maker, why not?
If the drug war has resulted in 28,000 deaths in Mexico (since 2006) and marijuana is the cartels’ #1 money maker (accounts for appx. 60% of their total revenues), why not legalize marijuana? You could regulate and tax it at the state level just like alcohol. (Could produce $40 billion in tax revenues annually).This would mean it could be grown (jobs), processed (jobs), bought and sold (jobs) domestically and would completely undercut a huge portion of the Mexican cartels’ revenues while creating jobs and local tax revenue in the process.
What do you think?
http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/08/03/just-say-now-marijuana-advocates-launch-national-legalization/
“Legalization has the potential to generate billions of dollars in revenue,” Just Say Now said in a news release. “A report authored by Harvard University economist Jeffrey Miron and endorsed by Nobel Laureate Milton Friedman said it would produce $40 billion a year in taxes.”
Bruce Fein, former deputy attorney general under Ronald Reagan, takes it a step beyond tax revenue, claiming the federal government should simply butt out.
“This is a fundamental issue of states’ rights,” said Fein, representing the conservative voices of Just Say Now.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/08/03/world/main6740078.shtml?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+CbsNewsTheEarlyShowPetPlanet+%28CBS+News%3A+The+Early+Show%3A+Pet+Planet%29
(AP) Mexico says more than 28,000 people have been killed in drug violence since President Felipe Calderon launched a crackdown against cartels in 2006.
Intelligence agency director Guillermo Valdes says authorities have confiscated about 84,000 weapons and made total cash seizures of $411 million in U.S. currency and $26 million worth in pesos (330 million pesos).
Valdes says drug violence in Mexico “is still growing.”
http://www.fbi.gov/congress/congress10/perkins050510.htm
Marijuana: Mexico is the number one foreign supplier of marijuana abused in the United States. In fact, according to a 2008 inter-agency report, marijuana is the top revenue generator for Mexican DTOs—a cash crop that finances corruption and the carnage of violence year after year. The profits derived from marijuana trafficking—an industry with minimal overhead costs, controlled entirely by the traffickers—are used not only to finance other drug enterprises by Mexico’s poly-drug cartels, but also to pay recurring “business” expenses, purchase weapons, and bribe corrupt officials. Though the GOM has a robust eradication program, many of the military personnel traditionally assigned to eradicate marijuana and opium poppy have recently been diverted to the offensive against the cartels.
wounded duck………”Wouldn’t solve the VIOLENCE problem.”
But it would seriously undermine the cartels’ ability to fund their war against the Mexican govt.
Ird00a……..”
They’d just shift drugs to make up for the loss in profits”
You can’t sell drugs if there is no demand for those drugs. Demand for hard drugs is MUCH lower than the demand for marijuana.
Eugene………..”we don’t bow our heads to illegal activity.”
So do you feel the same way about those who “bowed their heads” to alcohol legalization by repealing the 18th amendment?
mmm-kay…………”marijuana leads to harsher drugs to get the next bigger better high.fact”
Typing “fact” doesn’t make it so. Do you have a source, or are you just making things up?
cleetus……..”Why do libs always see the response to a problem as causing the damage not the problem?”
A) Not a “lib”. But don’t let that fk with your simplistic worldview 🙂
B) The laws are the reason the drugs are profitable in the first place. If you’ve ever studied history, you know that organized crime THRIVED during alcohol prohibition. This is no different.
Huckleberry………”Do you really believe that if Mexico legalized weed tomorrow that this drug cartel problem would just go away? C’mon now :-)”
I’m talking about the United States legalizing marijuana. The U.S. is the number one consumer. The U.S. is who the cartels are supplying.
scruffy……….”No, because then the thugs would go for the next money-making drug. ”
Again, you can’t sell drugs there isn’t a demand for. Demand for hard drugs is much lower than that of marijuana. Marijuana could be classified as a soft drug along with alcohol and cigarettes. The hard drugs (cocaine, heroin, crack, meth, etc.) although abused by a small percentage of society don’t have nearly the demand marijuana does. This is simply economics.
Ird00………….”They’d combine MJ with harder drugs to make it stronger…the cartels evolve quickly.”
If it’s legal and regulated, then the black market (cartels, organized crime) can no longer dictate quality.
Boils down to one thing. Leaving it illegal will keep those meskins killing each other off, so who really cares about that?
Wouldn’t solve the VIOLENCE problem.
No!we don’t bow our heads to illegal activity.We need to lock down the border.
marijuana leads to harsher drugs to get the next bigger better high.fact
It’s not just Marijuana, it’s cocaine and Mexican heroin. You’d still have the violence problem.
They’d just shift drugs to make up for the loss in profits.
That would fuel Las Zetas.
EDIT: They’d combine MJ with harder drugs to make it stronger…the cartels evolve quickly.
Plus, I don’t think the gang activity would go away just because the drugs do.
EDIT2: I’m not saying it’s a bad idea, but I don’t think it would solve the violence problem.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDuthy03Gkg&feature=related
The reason the US government hasn’t legalized it yet is because they currently have no idea how to control it so they can tax the he11 out of it. Once they figure this out, I guarantee you it will be legalized.
Donna
Why not legalize hot checks too. You know there are vast numbers of people in jail over that and if we legalized it no one would go to jail and the cases would not clog the system I know lets legalize murder then we won’t have to deal with the whole death penalty thing. Oh and let’s do away with property rights so that theft will no longer be a problem.
Why do libs always see the response to a problem as causing the damage not the problem?
Do you really believe that if Mexico legalized weed tomorrow that this drug cartel problem would just go away? C’mon now 🙂
Okayyyyy, same answer just add the United States… c’mon now!!
No, because then the thugs would go for the next money-making drug. It’s not about the drug. It’s about violent people wanting to be super rich without having to work for it… except for the sweat generated from killing people who don’t want to die.
in deed why not? i believe it would solve allot of problems the biggest being recidivism. our jails are overflowing with marijuana users who are stuck there by laws that are so set in stone that a rapist or a murder or even a pedophile have better odds of being released early!
There are millions that agree with you. I am one of them.
Those that think the cartels will find something else stronger to market, well, not so fast.
Currently, in the US, crystal meth is the most popular drug on the market, second to marijuana. Meth labs have become less complicated and easier to transport now a days. The Mexican and Columbian Meth distributors are losing money and import less every month because Americans have started manufacturing it much quicker and easier with less. They are called Shake and Bake labs. They comprise of nothing more than a propane or electric burner, 2 quart sauce pans, a grinder/mortar and pestle/ food processor, and a person willing to make it. Easily transported and ready to go in minutes. Recently, the cocaine is not flowing like it used to. With many of the trafficking on major highways being curtailed and the recent fires being started in the fields, they are desperate for some kind of income. They have turned to extortion, kidnapping, human trafficking, and influential loan sharks. Many of their government officials and even music, movie, and TV stars are being killed to get what they need. Many of the American Biker gangs, such as Hells Angels and Southern Gentlemen have broken off ties with some of them because of the “heat” and the recent gang wars in Mexico. There is no profit when you kill off your buyers, as some have said.
Some of the American underground gangs have started making deals with the feds and the CIA to get some of their business back on track. You know it’s bad when the gangs and cartels are fighting and they aren’t making any money. Their last and only big money maker is Marijuana, and believe it or not, most of it IS grown in the US and not Mexico, BUT, the Mexican gangs and cartels own the growers here, ship it there, process it, then ship it all over the world.
There are over 50 Hemp feilds in Kentucky that were run by the government to make rope for the military from the Civel War all the way to the Korean Conflict. The feilds were “destroyed” by the government and sold off to local farmers. There are still marijuana plants that come back year after year in those areas, in the midst of huge cornfeilds there. In the Kentucky and Virginia Foothills, it still grows wild to this day. Some plants are generational of up to 200 years old. Some individuals actually just come to collect the seeds and leave the buds.
The government will soon have no choice but to start mass marketing it themselves, like they did with tobacco, because of the current turmoil with the illegal blackmarket and the current economic situation that has not hurt only law abiding Americans but the criminal distributors as well. They know this and are biding their time to do so. We already have it legalized for “prescription” use, like they did with some distilled alcohols during prohibition, and it won’t be too long till it will be sold similar to tobacco products.