3. Legalizing marijuana could bring peace to the U
Post# of 11899
Posted On: 11/25/2012 2:30:31 AM
3. Legalizing marijuana could bring peace to the US-Mexico border.
At least 60,000 people have died in the drug war Mexico President Felipe Calderon declared on the cartels six years ago. But a more peaceful solution may be at hand. Legalizing weed in just two states — CO and WA — could deliver a serious blow to Mexican cartel profits; US officials estimate that 60 percent of cartel profits come from marijuana. At the very least, it is the “gateway drug” for hustling, as many Mexican traffickers start with pot before moving up to the harder stuff.
A recent study by Mexican think tank Mexican Competitiveness Institute estimated that marijuana legalization in Washington, Colorado and Oregon would cut cartel profits by a stunning 30%. Oregon’s legalization initiative did not pass, but even with legal weed in CO and WA, the cartels could lose as much as 20% in profits. Assuming Mexican cartels earn more than $6 billion a year from drug smuggling to the US, the study estimated that legalization in Colorado would cost the cartels an estimated $1.425 billion, compared to $1.372 billion in Washington and $1.839 billion in Oregon. The prediction hinges, however, on the assumption that the feds will not shut it all down. Researchers assumed that marijuana would be cultivated and sold for a lower price than Mexican pot in states where weed is legal. The legally grown, cheaper weed would then be smuggled into other states, driving up the demand for lower-cost, local weed.
On Friday, one Mexican legislator, Fernando Belaunzaran of the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) went so far as to propose a marijuana legalization bill . “The prohibitionist paradigm is a complete failure,” Belaunzaran told the Washington Post . “All this has done is spur more violence, the business continues. The country that has paid the highest costs is Mexico.”
“I think more and more Mexicans will respond in a similar fashion, as we ask ourselves why are Mexican troops up in the mountains of Sinaloa and Guerrero and Durango looking for marijuana, and why are we searching for tunnels, patrolling the borders, when once this product reaches Colorado it becomes legal,” Jorge Castañeda, a former foreign minister of Mexico told the Washington Post .
(0)
(0)