Market forces undermine pot cartels


Pay close attention, this could solve the "illegal drug problem"
I'm surprised this article made CBS.

Almost all of the marijuana consumed in the multibillion-dollar U.S. market once came from Mexico or Colombia. Now as much as half is produced domestically, often by small-scale operators who painstakingly tend greenhouses and indoor gardens to produce the more potent, and expensive, product that consumers now demand, according to authorities and marijuana dealers on both sides of the border.

The shifting economics of the marijuana trade have broad implications for Mexico's war against the drug cartels, suggesting that market forces, as much as law enforcement, can extract a heavy price from criminal organizations that have used the spectacular profits generated by pot sales to fuel the violence and corruption that plague the Mexican state.

They tiptoe right up to the edge, but they do not make the last step.

If market forces can disrupt illegal trafficking in one drug, those same market forces can disrupt all illegal trafficking.

Have you priced a bottle of aspirin lately?

The entire reason why illegal drugs are so profitable is because they are illegal. The same exact thing happened during Prohibition. And just like Prohibition, the underground black market made organized crime incredibly profitable. If the drugs are legal, then the price drops way way down.

If the drugs are legal, then quality becomes a major selling point. That means that the doses are standardized and the drugs aren't "cut" with other substances. Brand names become important.

If the drugs are legal, then they are generating tax revenue instead of costing millions with armed SWAT teams.

We know that Prohibition failed. This article points out that cheap legal marijuana drives out the illegal stuff. Without the high prices and within the law, there's no need for armed violence.

So why do we try any other way?

— NeoWayland

Posted: Mon - October 12, 2009 at 01:07 PM  Tag


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