Legalizing Drugs Will Not Kill The Cartels -- A Commentary

Legalization Won’t Kill the Cartels -- Sylvia Longmire, New York Times

FOR a growing number of American policy makers, politicians and activists, the best answer to the spiraling violence in Mexico is to legalize the marijuana that, they argue, fuels the country’s vicious cartels and smugglers. After all, according to official estimates, marijuana constitutes 60 percent of cartels’ drug profits. Legalization would move that trade into the open market, driving down the price and undermining the cartels’ power and influence.

Unfortunately, it’s not that easy. Marijuana legalization has many merits, but it would do little to hinder the long-term economics of the cartels — and the violent toll they take on Mexican society.

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My Comment: Unfortunately .... Sylvia Longmire is probably right. I live in Quebec, and in the early 1990s we had a huge contraband cigarette trade that used the Indian reservations to supply cigarettes to Quebec's eager smokers. This trade spawned a huge criminal enterprise and cultural mindset that when the trade was finally gotten rid of by massively cutting the taxes on cigarettes .... these criminal organizations simply went into other businesses (i.e. drugs, guns, fraud, etc.). Legalizing drugs is a measure that just treats the disease .... the disease are criminal gangs, their social acceptance by many in society, and the laws and methods that are ineffective in fighting them.