2 ms·

This is probably the best argument I've heard against the legalization of drugs.

• thecrash 4y ago
  I think it misunderstands the nature of illegal cartels. Although their business does involve agriculture, logistics and marketing, those are not a cartel's core business competencies. The core competencies are around smuggling, bribery, extralegal violence, clandestine operations, etc. Dominance in their core competencies allows them to run mediocre-to-bad agriculture and logistics operations at a huge profit, because any potential market competition in those sectors is suppressed by the law. The only ones who could meaningfully compete with a cartel at coca-growing are another cartel. If the law stops suppressing competitors (and instead starts protecting them), organizations which are good at bribery and violence no longer have an edge.