La Marijuana Et Les Cartels Mexicains

Mexican Cartels

I’m going to talk about the consequences that this legalization could cause on Mexican cartels. I used three articles, one from the New York Times posted on November 1st, the second one from the Economist and the last one from the Washington Post posted on November the 9th. They all deal in particular with the impact that this legalization could have on the profits that these cartels make thanks to the Mexico-United States marijuana trade.

First, it’s important to say that Mexico is the first provider of marijuana of the United States. Between 40% and 70% of American pot is reckoned to be grown in Mexico. It is estimated that they pocket from $2 billion to $20 billion annually. Consequently, those cartels are about to lose a huge part of their revenue because of this legalization in Colorado and Washington. According to a study released on October 31 by the Mexican Institute of Competitiveness (IMCO), Mexican drug cartels could see their revenue fall from 20 to 30 percent, and the Sinaloa cartel, which would be the most affected, would lose up to 50 percent. It represents a loss around $3 billion for the two states. Thanks to this legalization, the government of Mexico, led by President Felipe Calderon, and the US government want to hit Mexican cartels, so it will make them lose billions of dollars.

The two governments hope to bring them down because with this legalization, American people will be allowed to grow marijuana on their own and won’t need Mexican cartels to provide them. In fact, home-grown marijuana is much better quality than the Mexican sort. But it also means that it would be more expensive than the Mexican pot at first. As a result, it estimates that Mexico’s traffickers would lose about $1.4 billion of their $2 billion revenues from marijuana.

But, according to the Washington Post, the loss would not be that high. First, it’s because Mexican cartels don’t only make their money from marijuana, but from other drugs such as cocaine, for instance. Also, they estimate that legalization in California would only retain less than 9 to 15 percent of its original market share in the U.S. It won’t put Mexican cartels out of business.

The low of income is not the only thing that will change. Cartels are also known as crime organization. Many murders that occurred in Mexico are considered as drug-related. This violence began when President Calderon ordered a military assault on criminal cartels in 2006. They estimate 60,000 killings since President Calderon came to rule the country. Thousands more have disappeared. The Mexican government and the US government fear that the legalization of marijuana could lead to a higher level of violence. Cartels are already known as “monsters” by killing people and torturing like hacking off the heads of still-living victims but now, they are extending their activities that include kidnapping, extortion, human smuggling and theft from oil pipelines, according to the New York Times.

In a way, the legalization seems to be a good point in the battle against the Mexican cartels, because, first, it will make them lose money and redirect it to small businesses and government coffers. But in another way, cartels are going to develop others activities even worse. They will concentrate on other drugs like cocaine or crystal meth, and they will continue to kill to show their strength

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