Home
Newsletter
Events
Blogs
Reports
Graphics
RSS
About Us
Support
Write for Us
Media Info
Advertising Info
Marijuana

Legalizing marijuana would hinder the multi-billion dollar empire of Mexican drug cartels, say some

Monday, August 01, 2011 by: Jonathan Benson, staff writer
Tags: marijuana, legalization, health news


Most Viewed Articles
https://www.naturalnews.com/033193_marijuana_legalization.html
Delicious
diaspora
Print
Email
Share

(NaturalNews) The prohibition of marijuana in the US has led to an "underground" cannabis industry in Mexico run primarily by violent gangster cartels like the ones wreaking havoc at the southern borders of Texas, Arizona, and California.

These cartels reap anywhere from $1 to $20 billion a year illegally selling marijuana to Americans, but advocates of reform and legalization say the crime and terror associated with the illicit drug trade would largely end if marijuana was simply decriminalized.

Just a few weeks ago, Mexican soldiers burned a 300-acre field of marijuana some 200 miles south of San Diego, Calif., near Tijuana, Mex. Operated by drug cartels, the field contained a potential yield of around 120 tons of marijuana, which is worth about $160 million, according to reports. And back in October, soldiers performed another burning on 134 metric tons of vacuum-packed marijuana discovered in the same region.

The constant pursuit of cartels that grow and sell marijuana, as well as raids and burnings of marijuana fields, have led to massive cartel backlash. After the Tijuana raid and burning in October, for instance, cartels murdered 13 recovering drug addicts at a rehabilitation center.

Each victim represented ten tons of the burned marijuana, and was considered payback for it. In other words, the end result of the war on marijuana is increased violence, which reform advocates say could end with marijuana's legalization.

"There is no doubt that marijuana legalization would hurt Mexican gangsters in their pocketbooks," said Tom Angell, spokesman for Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, an anti-war on drugs group, to TIME in a recent report.

Angell also believes that individual states that legalize marijuana would inspire others to do the same, which would eventually cause sweeping changes to marijuana policies everywhere.

Former Mexican President Vicente Fox also told TIME recently that he supports marijuana decriminalization on the basis that it would "take all the production chain out of the hands of criminals and into the hands of producers," all by establishing freedom for non-criminals to grow, process, distribute, and sell marijuana instead.

Sources for this story include:

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,859...

Receive Our Free Email Newsletter

Get independent news alerts on natural cures, food lab tests, cannabis medicine, science, robotics, drones, privacy and more.


comments powered by Disqus



Natural News Wire (Sponsored Content)

Science.News
Science News & Studies
Medicine.News
Medicine News and Information
Food.News
Food News & Studies
Health.News
Health News & Studies
Herbs.News
Herbs News & Information
Pollution.News
Pollution News & Studies
Cancer.News
Cancer News & Studies
Climate.News
Climate News & Studies
Survival.News
Survival News & Information
Gear.News
Gear News & Information
Glitch.News
News covering technology, stocks, hackers, and more