Legal Cannabis in U.S. is Hurting the Cartel

One of the number one reasons that allows anti-cannabis people to get behind legalization is the fact that legal cannabis will detract from the success of scary organizations like the Mexican cartel and other organized crime groups. It looks like legal cannabis is experiencing success in this arena as well as everywhere else—a recent report by the U.S. Border Patrol reveals that the cartel is suffering because people in the U.S. can buy their cannabis in stores. Rather than through the black market.

According to a recent Washington Post article that analyzed the Border Patrol’s findings, cannabis seizures along the border are lower than they’ve been in a decade. Only 1.5 million pounds were seized last year, while in 2009, 4 million pounds were seized.

“Those trying to understand what has happened with U.S. cannabis consumption and imports over the past decade need to pay close attention to licensed and unlicensed production in medical states, especially California,” Beau Kilmer, a representative from RAND Corporation, told Washington Post.

However, there is also a side to this fact that some find troubling. The Mexican farmers who make their living off of growing cannabis are being driven under by the swankier and more legal product being churned out up north.

“Two or three years ago, a kilogram [2.2 pounds] of marijuana was worth $60 to $90,” stated an anonymous Mexican cannabis grower in a 2014 NPR interview quoted by the Washington Post. “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.”

However, the fact remains that taking a chunk out of major drug trafficking and crime is a good thing for concerned citizens. As we continue to see a spread of legal states popping up from the 2016 elections, we will surely see an even greater decrease in the demand for illegally imported cannabis.