4 ms·

I don’t think it would. Legalizing drugs would come at the cost of governments and cities taxing it and putting it above what price is on the street for cartel

I don’t think it would. Legalizing drugs would come at the cost of governments and cities taxing it and putting it above what price is on the street for cartel product. The cartels can easily undercut on price because they don’t pay any taxes.

Clewza313 6y ago
Which is why we all still buy moonshine at speakeasies instead of a pack of Bud Light at the supermarket, amirite? Slightly more seriously, obviously people will continue to smuggle if there's a profit to be made, but a lot of consumers and producers will quite willingly switch to legal options if they can. Jail time is pretty expensive too.
luis8 6y ago
Could the gov take over the production and then simply choke cartel profits?. They could make some small profit out of it to fund addiction health rehab programs. I'm just trying to find a different approach because the current war against them doesn't seem to be working.
15155 6y ago
Cartels can't compete on quality or safety. People are happy to pay a 28%+ tax here in CO for legalized, recreational marijuana - a relatively expensive-to-produce product.
- robbyking 6y ago
  Absolutely. I'm in my 40's, and not only was buying cannabis a little sketchy when I was younger, but you literally had no idea what you were getting: indica, sativa, percentage of THC, percentage of CBD, etc. It was all just a total crapshoot.
computerphage 6y ago
Well, if the tax rate is lower than the cost of running a large organized crime organization and trafficking the drugs into the country, then the legal price may still be lower. There's also the fact that buyers ALSO care about the risk. Many people will only purchase drugs legally, if given both options.
- vmception 6y ago
  Which is why I dislike just decriminalization It doesn't come with any consumer protections I think the happy medium is legalization + a decriminalized framework Many methods fail because the legalization-only path just creates a parallel criminal path

Clewza313 6y ago

Which is why we all still buy moonshine at speakeasies instead of a pack of Bud Light at the supermarket, amirite? Slightly more seriously, obviously people will continue to smuggle if there's a profit to be made, but a lot of consumers and producers will quite willingly switch to legal options if they can. Jail time is pretty expensive too.

luis8 6y ago

Could the gov take over the production and then simply choke cartel profits?. They could make some small profit out of it to fund addiction health rehab programs. I'm just trying to find a different approach because the current war against them doesn't seem to be working.

15155 6y ago

Cartels can't compete on quality or safety. People are happy to pay a 28%+ tax here in CO for legalized, recreational marijuana - a relatively expensive-to-produce product.

robbyking 6y ago
Absolutely. I'm in my 40's, and not only was buying cannabis a little sketchy when I was younger, but you literally had no idea what you were getting: indica, sativa, percentage of THC, percentage of CBD, etc. It was all just a total crapshoot.

computerphage 6y ago

Well, if the tax rate is lower than the cost of running a large organized crime organization and trafficking the drugs into the country, then the legal price may still be lower. There's also the fact that buyers ALSO care about the risk. Many people will only purchase drugs legally, if given both options.

vmception 6y ago
Which is why I dislike just decriminalization It doesn't come with any consumer protections I think the happy medium is legalization + a decriminalized framework Many methods fail because the legalization-only path just creates a parallel criminal path