The illegal marijuana industry is a HUGE component of what funds the drug cartels though. If we legalize it, we take a whole lot of wind out of their sails.
As a staunch advocate for recreational legalization, I just don't buy this as legitimate.
Marijuana is not a big money making drug. It is a GIANT space consumer during transportation, has a very distinct, non-maskable odor that even the most popular methods can't hide from a good dog, and requires a ton of man-hours and labor to move in to the country.
A small-time, pot-only dealer growing his own supply can make a few bucks here and there, sure. But these people are not creating the violence and devestation associated with drug cartels and drug-related gang violence.
The gangs and cartels relying on the illegal drug trade for moeny and profits are working in chemicals, pills and powders. These drugs take up a minimal amount of space during transportation, are very easy to hide, generally have little or no odor that is comparatively easily masked, even from the best dogs, and generate HUGE profits at the street level.
To these violence-driven drug machines, marijuana is the necessary sandbag that weighs down their operations. If they are moving 500kilos of cocain in from Colombia, why not bring 500 pounds of pot with it? Sure...it takes up twice the space for less than half the weight, and only 1/10 the profit margin. But the plane is already being loaded, the men are already on scene to do the work, and even a coke head might want to toke a bowl before calling it a night, so it's extra money.
But gone are the days when a private Cessna could smuggle a couple thousand pounds of pot in from Mexico and air-drop it in to Arizona over the course of a weekend. Nobody smokes that SWAG anymore, anyhow...it ain't worth squat on the market.
If pot were legalized at a Federal Level, the bottom line of these cartels would not be impacted very much, in my estimation. Neither would the violence associated with drugs. This money and violence is generated from hard drugs and hard core users.
Where you WILL see a huge difference is in the bottom line of the government. The amount of money spent to house multiple millions of non-violent, pot-only offenders in our state and federal penitentiaries, the amount of money
earned from an entire industry of cultivation, processing, and sale of marijuana, the multiple trillions of dollars used to track down, arrest, and prosecute non-violent, pot-only offenders...All of this money will have a HUGE impact on our National Economy and our debt as a country.
But legalizing pot won't effect drug cartels very much. It's just not their "money maker"...
