According to a new Congressional Research Service report, legal cannabis is hurting cartels.

The report has stated that a “decline in U.S. demand for Mexican marijuana” is partly “due to legalized cannabis or medical cannabis in several U.S. states and Canada, reducing its value as part of Mexican trafficking organizations’ portfolio.”

“Authorities are projecting a continued decline in U.S. demand for Mexican marijuana because drugs ‘other than marijuana’ will likely predominate,” CRS wrote in the report, which was published in July. “This is also the case due to legalized cannabis or medical cannabis in several U.S. states and Canada, reducing its value as part of Mexican trafficking organizations’ portfolio.”

The report also states that Mexico “is also considering cannabis legalization and regulation” after a Supreme Court ruling deemed the prohibition on personal possession and consumption unconstitutional in 2018.

Additionally the report finds that cartel diversification into other criminal activities could be due to U.S. and Mexican drug enforcement efforts or that it “constitutes a response to shifting U.S. drug consumption patterns, such as legalization of marijuana in some U.S. states (and Canada) and a large increase in demand for plant-based and synthetic opioids.”

The Cato Insitute had found in 2018 that state-level cannabis legalization “has significantly undercut marijuana smuggling.”

“Based on Border Patrol seizures, smuggling has fallen 78 percent over just a five-year period,” said the institute. “Because marijuana was the primary drug smuggled between ports of entry, where Border Patrol surveils, the value of the agency’s seizures overall—on a per-agent basis—has declined 70 percent.”


Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You May Also Like

Biden: U.S. To ‘Pursue Every Possible Avenue’ To Bring Griner Home
08 August 2022
Michigan Voters May Not Have to Vote for Marijuana Legalization in November
02 June 2018
Legal Cannabis Bill Passed in Minnesota House Had No Chance in Senate
26 May 2021