How great would the benefit to humanity be, pricing in uncertainty of a practical legalisation scheme, before you'd be happy for the cartel leaders to get off s

How great would the benefit to humanity be, pricing in uncertainty of a practical legalisation scheme, before you'd be happy for the cartel leaders to get off scott-free? I haven't done the numbers in this case, but surely there are instances in the world where giving up on the prospect of individual retribution is worth the societal gain?