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Is Legal Pot Crippling Mexican Drug Trafficking Organisations?

marginalrevolution.com

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Re: Is Legal Pot Crippling Mexican Drug Trafficking Organisations?

#51

No.... 'The Sinaloa cartel can buy a kilo of cocaine in the highlands of Colombia or Peru for around $2,000, then watch it accrue value as it makes its way to market. In Mexico, that kilo fetches more than $10,000. Jump the border to the United States, and it could sell wholesale for $30,000. Break it down into grams to distribute retail, and that same kilo sells for upward of $100,000 — more than its weight in gold.…

The marijuana market is twice the size in US Dollars vs. the cocaine market and nearly half the volume of the overall drug trafficking. http://www.talkingdrugs.org/report-global-illegal-drug-trade...

Maybe this is a west coast perspective but I would have guessed that even before it was legal the vast majority of the marijuana market was served by domestic producers versus imports, whereas cocaine is all imported.

Edit: Some googling produces estimates ranging from 30 to 70 percent imports, depending on the point the article is trying to make, so let's just call it 50% domestic nationwide.

Re: Is Legal Pot Crippling Mexican Drug Trafficking Organisations?

#52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> A bunch of seeds and a pot of compost?

...and a location with proper sun. Outdoor-sun-grown weed... that brings back memories.

Re: Is Legal Pot Crippling Mexican Drug Trafficking Organisations?

#53
post #41
post #10

The "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'm not sure how you can say hierarchical organizations that use violence/coercion are in any way anarchist. Anarcho-capitalism requires voluntary engagement in a system of contracts and so forth. (Whether that could actually work in the real world is debatable but beside the point.)

You're using different meanings of the word 'anarchy':

2. (uncountable) Anarchism; the political theory that a community is best organized by the voluntary cooperation of individuals, rather than by a government, which is regarded as being coercive by nature.

3. (countable) A chaotic and confusing absence of any form of political authority or government.

4. Confusion in general; disorder.

Re: Is Legal Pot Crippling Mexican Drug Trafficking Organisations?

#54
post #10

The "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…

Oh fuck off. What are you even on about? You think drug cartels are diversified investment portfolios? Ones that can just sub one illegal commodity for another?

You're out of your fucking mind. And if you can't tell how out you are from the first line, you can tell when you assign a moral aspect to the things you don't like.

Jesus, you're a piece of work.

Re: Is Legal Pot Crippling Mexican Drug Trafficking Organisations?

#55
post #45
post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have a citation for that? Ive been to a shop or two that felt a little sketchy but this interests me.

No citation unfortunately. My friend who runs a dispensary told me.

Comical, your source is "my friend told me"?

Re: Is Legal Pot Crippling Mexican Drug Trafficking Organisations?

#56
post #10

The "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…

Marijuana loses its profitability, they can switch to other drugs, guns, smuggling, "coyotes", or legitimate enterprise. Not disagreeing with your larger point, but the fact of the matter is that it's a lot harder to sell people meth, coke, heroin, etc. than it is to sell people pot. If coca cola were made illegal, something that is bad for you by many metrics but hardly life destroying, people are not going to switc…

> it's a lot harder to sell people meth, coke, heroin, etc. than it is to sell people pot.

Only the first time. Then the opposite is true.

Re: Is Legal Pot Crippling Mexican Drug Trafficking Organisations?

#57
post #10

The "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…

Marijuana loses its profitability, they can switch to other drugs, guns, smuggling, "coyotes", or legitimate enterprise. Not disagreeing with your larger point, but the fact of the matter is that it's a lot harder to sell people meth, coke, heroin, etc. than it is to sell people pot. If coca cola were made illegal, something that is bad for you by many metrics but hardly life destroying, people are not going to switc…

Just to debate, but why do you believe: "Not disagreeing with your larger point, but the fact of the matter is that it's a lot harder to sell people meth, coke, heroin, etc. than it is to sell people pot."

Funny drug dealer quotes "I don't sell drugs, drug's sell themselves"

In all reality though Pot is by far harder to conceal in small/large quantities so per pound profitability on Pot has to be lower than other drugs like Meth / Cocaine / Heroin. Especially with the rise in Opioid addiction here in the US it seems folks with a poor moral compass (drug cartels) are naturally going to flock to something like Fentanyl production to increase the potency of their heroin or opioid sales.

Kudos to the legal marijuana industry, but it does shift the "war on drugs" to areas far more dangerous, and in my opinion worth focusing on.

Re: Is Legal Pot Crippling Mexican Drug Trafficking Organisations?

#58
post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The marijuana market is twice the size in US Dollars vs. the cocaine market and nearly half the volume of the overall drug trafficking. http://www.talkingdrugs.org/report-global-illegal-drug-trade...

Maybe this is a west coast perspective but I would have guessed that even before it was legal the vast majority of the marijuana market was served by domestic producers versus imports, whereas cocaine is all imported. Edit: Some googling produces estimates ranging from 30 to 70 percent imports, depending on the point the article is trying to make, so let's just call it 50% domestic nationwide.

Adderall is way better than coke

Re: Is Legal Pot Crippling Mexican Drug Trafficking Organisations?

#59
post #10

The "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…

Oh fuck off. What are you even on about? You think drug cartels are diversified investment portfolios? Ones that can just sub one illegal commodity for another? You're out of your fucking mind. And if you can't tell how out you are from the first line, you can tell when you assign a moral aspect to the things you don't like. Jesus, you're a piece of work.

[deleted]

Re: Is Legal Pot Crippling Mexican Drug Trafficking Organisations?

#60
post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No citation unfortunately. My friend who runs a dispensary told me.

Comical, your source is "my friend told me"?

On the internet, that flies. It might not seem completely trustable but then again nothing on the internet should be taken alone. Further, it’s not like there are many safe ways to make such a claim.
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