Why drug legalization will not end the cartel

Marijuana is already legal in four states and voters in eight more will cast their ballot this November on whether their state will allow recreation pot. Supporters of legalizing cannabis, especially libertarians who support decriminalizing most drug use, have made the argument that their efforts will bankrupt the cartels and bring their dangerous regimes to an end.

That line of thinking is antiquated. Drug cartels will never allow their gravy train to end, and the current heroin epidemic proves it.

In the September issue of Esquire, best-selling writer Don Winslow credits the current heroin epidemic with the mass legalization of marijuana in the U.S.

Drug cartels in Mexico saw a rapid profit loss when states began to legalize pot; the Sinaloa Cartel lost 40 percent in sales in just a few years. Marijuana farms in Durango, Mexico became barren because the product became worthless to drug cartels which couldn’t compete with the American product because it was produced without the overhead of transportation and safety.

While that may sound like a good thing, Winslow wrote that they refused to give up on the $360 billion industry and moved to heroin production.