PDFs: https://scholar.google.com/scholar?cluster=39284158802843660...
Awesome. Thanks!
Is Legal Pot Crippling Mexican Drug Trafficking Organisations?
11–20 of 183 posts
Re: Is Legal Pot Crippling Mexican Drug Trafficking Organisations?
#12The "Drug Trafficking Organizations" are the cartels. It is important to remember they don't exist to traffic drugs, they exist for the top leader(s) to obtain and maintain power, like a state-in-waiting. As other activities become more profitable, they switch over to those. Marijuana loses its profitability, they can switch to other drugs, guns, smuggling, "coyotes", or legitimate enterprise. This is what unfettered…
> This is what unfettered capitalism (anarcho-capitalism) looks like. I like capitalism, generally, but divorcing morality (or, alternatively, failing to separate socially-contracted power to coerce action) from economic gain results in the violence and brutality.
no. the cartels are what you get when you actively block organizations that are serving huge needs (recreational drugs), from access to peaceful means of conflict resolution and contract enforcement.
(and worse, you've got governments regularly going in and attempting to destabilize the cartels with force, so that even if they wanted to build up more peaceful resolution mechanisms, they'd be punished for doing so.)
Re: Is Legal Pot Crippling Mexican Drug Trafficking Organisations?
#13The "Drug Trafficking Organizations" are the cartels. It is important to remember they don't exist to traffic drugs, they exist for the top leader(s) to obtain and maintain power, like a state-in-waiting. As other activities become more profitable, they switch over to those. Marijuana loses its profitability, they can switch to other drugs, guns, smuggling, "coyotes", or legitimate enterprise. This is what unfettered…
If they're truly profit-maximizing they're already exploiting other drugs, guns, smuggling, "coyotes", or legitimate enterprise as hard as they can already and we should expect them to lose money if one of the markets they work in goes away.
Re: Is Legal Pot Crippling Mexican Drug Trafficking Organisations?
#14Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well, the article is barely more than a headline and a bunch of mediocre comments itself, although it links to a paper behind a paywall. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ecoj.12521/full I would guess though that meth (a la Breaking Bad) is too easy to make inside the US for import competition, while heroin has been hit by the dual availability of Pharma delivered Oxy and China delivered Fentanyl/Carfentanil…
Meth is actually really interesting. It's a very democratic drug in that it's really easy for the user to make it themselves. Pot is another one that theoretically lets you grow it yourself, but it's significantly harder and requires a larger investment. From what I gather, as long as you manage to not blow yourself up, the shake and bake method requires very little supplies and tools to make meth. Edit: to be clear,…
> Pot is another one that theoretically lets you grow it yourself, but it's significantly harder and requires a larger investment.
A bunch of seeds and a pot of compost?
Speaking from experience, fwiw.
Re: Is Legal Pot Crippling Mexican Drug Trafficking Organisations?
#15Study: Is Legal Pot Crippling Mexican Drug Trafficking Organisations? The Effect of Medical Marijuana Laws on US Crime
Citation: Gavrilova, E., Kamada, T. and Zoutman, F. (2017), Is Legal Pot Crippling Mexican Drug Trafficking Organisations? The Effect of Medical Marijuana Laws on US Crime. Econ J.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ecoj.12521
DOI: 10.1111/ecoj.12521
Abstract: We show that the introduction of medical marijuana laws (MMLs) leads to a decrease in violent crime in states that border Mexico. The reduction in crime is strongest for counties close to the border (less than 350 kilometres) and for crimes that relate to drug trafficking. In addition, we find that MMLs in inland states lead to a reduction in crime in the nearest border state. Our results are consistent with the theory that decriminalisation of the production and distribution of marijuana leads to a reduction in violent crime in markets that are traditionally controlled by Mexican drug trafficking organisations.
Re: Is Legal Pot Crippling Mexican Drug Trafficking Organisations?
#16The "Drug Trafficking Organizations" are the cartels. It is important to remember they don't exist to traffic drugs, they exist for the top leader(s) to obtain and maintain power, like a state-in-waiting. As other activities become more profitable, they switch over to those. Marijuana loses its profitability, they can switch to other drugs, guns, smuggling, "coyotes", or legitimate enterprise. This is what unfettered…
If they're truly profit-maximizing they're already exploiting other drugs, guns, smuggling, "coyotes", or legitimate enterprise as hard as they can already and we should expect them to lose money if one of the markets they work in goes away.
Diseconomies of scale and scope can prevent action in each of these industries, in a static analysis. It may prove to be more profitable to focus on a single industry (e.g. marijuana) than seeking at the present moment to dominate or even enter other industries (e.g. opiods) until market conditions change.
As things evolve, they may naturally enter other industries. Heck, even become legitimate.
EDIT: Fixed second paragraph.
Re: Is Legal Pot Crippling Mexican Drug Trafficking Organisations?
#17Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well, the article is barely more than a headline and a bunch of mediocre comments itself, although it links to a paper behind a paywall. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ecoj.12521/full I would guess though that meth (a la Breaking Bad) is too easy to make inside the US for import competition, while heroin has been hit by the dual availability of Pharma delivered Oxy and China delivered Fentanyl/Carfentanil…
Meth is actually really interesting. It's a very democratic drug in that it's really easy for the user to make it themselves. Pot is another one that theoretically lets you grow it yourself, but it's significantly harder and requires a larger investment. From what I gather, as long as you manage to not blow yourself up, the shake and bake method requires very little supplies and tools to make meth. Edit: to be clear,…
I'm not sure what would be more fitting, but "democratic" seems like thewrong word here. I understand what you mean, though. The easiest drug to make yourself is probably alcohol e.g. people making their own in prison.
Re: Is Legal Pot Crippling Mexican Drug Trafficking Organisations?
#18The "Drug Trafficking Organizations" are the cartels. It is important to remember they don't exist to traffic drugs, they exist for the top leader(s) to obtain and maintain power, like a state-in-waiting. As other activities become more profitable, they switch over to those. Marijuana loses its profitability, they can switch to other drugs, guns, smuggling, "coyotes", or legitimate enterprise. This is what unfettered…
If they're truly profit-maximizing they're already exploiting other drugs, guns, smuggling, "coyotes", or legitimate enterprise as hard as they can already and we should expect them to lose money if one of the markets they work in goes away.
Iirc they’re getting into avocados lately.
Edit: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-41635008
Damn.
Re: Is Legal Pot Crippling Mexican Drug Trafficking Organisations?
#19The "Drug Trafficking Organizations" are the cartels. It is important to remember they don't exist to traffic drugs, they exist for the top leader(s) to obtain and maintain power, like a state-in-waiting. As other activities become more profitable, they switch over to those. Marijuana loses its profitability, they can switch to other drugs, guns, smuggling, "coyotes", or legitimate enterprise. This is what unfettered…
I don't think morality has much to do with it.
Taking violence out of transactions by simultaneously making the consequences of violence very expensive and the alternatives to violent dispute resolution relatively inexpensive is what makes non-violent markets work.
But I agree: a market in violence rather than a People controlled, pre-agreed upon rules-based government monopoly on violence would lead to and an explosion of cartel-like violence in many more arenas. I just think it is because we make it relatively cheap in that scenario rather than any kind of moral coupling.
Re: Is Legal Pot Crippling Mexican Drug Trafficking Organisations?
#20Earlier quoted context omitted.
If they're truly profit-maximizing they're already exploiting other drugs, guns, smuggling, "coyotes", or legitimate enterprise as hard as they can already and we should expect them to lose money if one of the markets they work in goes away.
Iirc they’re getting into avocados lately. Edit: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-41635008 Damn.
Production, or shakedown?
http://www.extracrispy.com/culture/4302/avocado-cartel-shake...