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Ouch. I guess they'll just have to make billions off of every other illegal drug.

by Donzo 12y ago

hkmurakami 12y ago
Considering the amount of violence such cartels cause, I wonder if slow legalization of even the harder illegal drugs is the path we are on...
- pdkl95 12y ago
  Legalizing it all is the only sane solution. Drugs are a product where the demand is roughly constant. People that want drugs will try and get them from somebody; even price does little to change this. Rates of use are surprisingly consistent, and tend to change based only slowly based around changes in "pop-attention", taste, or other social pressures instead of economic or legal pressures. This leaves us with a choice: who should be the supplier for that demand? The catch: there will probably be some sort of profits associated with that exchange. For some time now, we've chosen to hand those profits to the violent gangs and cartels - some of which were effectively created from this vacuum in supply. Alternatively, we can choose to give the job of supplying drugs to something we can regulate and control: a business or other sanctioned organization (co-op? gov agency?). There are, of course, many ways to accomplish this; one of the primary benefits of a regulated business is that we have options on how we choose to regulate it. It may take a few tries to find the best methods (such is life), but even partial-failure or not-quite-working regulation is significantly better than the alternative. I suspect that anybody still choosing to channel money to cartels is either engaging in magical thinking ("if we make things illegal, they will all stop doing it!"[1]), or somehow profiting from the War On (some) Drugs. [1] see "pro-life" for another example of similar "the problem will go away" magical thinking
higherpurpose 12y ago
They could ramp up the war on piracy, but they'll need to also push for laws that allow them to take your home for a pirated song, before trial.
logn 12y ago
We've had the mafias ever since prohibition. I don't think the cartels are going away. They'll diversify, maybe even outside of drugs (e.g., more kidnapping).
- Sanddancer 12y ago
  The mafia existed since before prohibition. While they got big during the Alcohol War, they definitely had the advantage of having a vice distribution network set up ahead of time. The cartels definitely were able to develop their network on the back of certain drugs, however, with marijuana being a significant amount of that money, I don't think they'd be able to maintain the level of sophistication in their network that they have now. Much like how the Mafia is a shell of its former self, the Cartels will fade once their main sources of income are eliminated.

Ouch. I guess they'll just have to make billions off of every other illegal drug.

by Donzo 12y ago

Ouch. I guess they'll just have to make billions off of every other illegal drug.

Considering the amount of violence such cartels cause, I wonder if slow legalization of even the harder illegal drugs is the path we are on...

pdkl95 12y ago
Legalizing it all is the only sane solution. Drugs are a product where the demand is roughly constant. People that want drugs will try and get them from somebody; even price does little to change this. Rates of use are surprisingly consistent, and tend to change based only slowly based around changes in "pop-attention", taste, or other social pressures instead of economic or legal pressures. This leaves us with a choice: who should be the supplier for that demand? The catch: there will probably be some sort of profits associated with that exchange. For some time now, we've chosen to hand those profits to the violent gangs and cartels - some of which were effectively created from this vacuum in supply. Alternatively, we can choose to give the job of supplying drugs to something we can regulate and control: a business or other sanctioned organization (co-op? gov agency?). There are, of course, many ways to accomplish this; one of the primary benefits of a regulated business is that we have options on how we choose to regulate it. It may take a few tries to find the best methods (such is life), but even partial-failure or not-quite-working regulation is significantly better than the alternative. I suspect that anybody still choosing to channel money to cartels is either engaging in magical thinking ("if we make things illegal, they will all stop doing it!"[1]), or somehow profiting from the War On (some) Drugs. [1] see "pro-life" for another example of similar "the problem will go away" magical thinking

higherpurpose 12y ago

They could ramp up the war on piracy, but they'll need to also push for laws that allow them to take your home for a pirated song, before trial.

logn 12y ago

We've had the mafias ever since prohibition. I don't think the cartels are going away. They'll diversify, maybe even outside of drugs (e.g., more kidnapping).

Sanddancer 12y ago
The mafia existed since before prohibition. While they got big during the Alcohol War, they definitely had the advantage of having a vice distribution network set up ahead of time. The cartels definitely were able to develop their network on the back of certain drugs, however, with marijuana being a significant amount of that money, I don't think they'd be able to maintain the level of sophistication in their network that they have now. Much like how the Mafia is a shell of its former self, the Cartels will fade once their main sources of income are eliminated.