One of the most popular topics on a college campus is the legalization of marijuana, which for many has become an integral — albeit usually illegal — part of the college experience. Some supportive participants in these discussions point out that the usage of marijuana does not affect anyone but the user and thus should not be a crime, and others argue that marijuana has health benefits. Detractors express dissatisfaction with the lifestyle associated with marijuana usage, among other concerns.
Another benefit is that the legalization of marijuana could in fact lessen the influence of drug cartels in the United States. 30 percent of drug cartels’ revenue comes from marijuana sales, although the amount smuggled into the U.S. per year has been cut in half since 2009. The U.S. Border Patrol has been confiscating smaller amounts of marijuana within the last few years, coinciding with the legalization of the drug in states like Colorado and Washington. Although estimates vary, experts agree that the marijuana smuggling trade is a multi-billion-dollar-a-year source of revenue for cartels, and legalization would most certainly hurt them, and as these statistics show, has been doing so.
What effect does a decrease in cartel profits have? Shrinking markets shrinks the businesses that participate in them and thus will lessen the influence and power of the cartels. Doing so would cut the spending that supports cartel thugs and weapons purchases, saving civilian lives in the U.S. and especially in Mexico, where the drug wars have contributed to approximately 164,345 deaths in the time between 2007 and 2014, which surpasses the civilian death toll in Iraq and Afghanistan during that same period.
A decrease in cartel shipments and activity in the U.S. would also save taxpayers millions on the drug war as the U.S. government will spend less fighting organized crime. According to a study done in 2010, in the preceding 40 years the U.S. has spent 20 billion dollars on fighting foreign cartels alone, along with 49 billion for border enforcement. For a country deep in debt, being able to cut spending on law enforcement due to a lower a need would be an excellent bonus for fiscal policy makers.
Forcing profits out of the hands of Mexican drug lords and into American business is certainly a plus. The legal marijuana trade is one of the fastest growing industries in the U.S. and is set to add 6.7 billion dollars in sales revenue to the U.S. economy. Some project that by 2018 this industry will generate 10.8 billion dollars. With the weed market steadily shifting towards the legal trade, cartels are feeling the hurt of thinning wallets to a greater extent each year.
Whatever your opinion on marijuana usage is, whether you are a supporter, opponent or just someone who sees the legal and economic benefits from legalization, it is probably common ground that drug cartels are a threat that must be subdued.
Current efforts are simply not working, given that the U.S. and allied countries have spent billions of dollars over the decades fighting cartels to no avail. These efforts have simply increased the size and scope of the drug war, costing thousands of lives, expanding illegal business and imprisoning thousands of non-violent citizens. Perhaps it is time that the U.S. picks a tactic that hurts the cartels at the core of their existence — their wallets — and in turn reaps the economic benefits of legalization itself.