Voters in Colorado, Oregon and Washington could pass measures tomorrow that would potentially cripple Mexico's drug cartels.
Washington Post reports that the Sinaloa cartel, Mexico's oldest and most powerful, is selling a record amount of heroin and methamphetamine in Chicago as it takes its burgeoning marijuana trade to the next level.
But Amendment 64 in Colorado and I-502 in Washington—both of which currently have a majority of support among likely voters—could change all of that by making marijuana legal for persons 21-years-old and older while taxing it under a tightly regulated system similar to that for controlling hard alcohol.
The Mexican Institute for Competitiveness (IMCO), a Mexico City think-tank, published a report detailing how legalization at the state level could sink cartel revenues from drug trafficking because "one or more states could meet most of its domestic demand with domestic production."
Since the quality of U.S.-grown marijuana is much better than Mexico-grown, the IMCO figures that domestic bud from Colorado, Oregon or Washington would be cheaper everywhere in the country besides near the border.
Consequently, the IMCO estimates that cartels would lose about $1.4 billion of their $2 billion revenues from marijuana, which would mean the Sinaloa cartel would lose up to half of its total income.
Furthermore, other drug exports would become less competitive as fixed costs such as bribes, and fighting rivals would remain the same.
The study notes that there is "considerable uncertainty about the effect a substantial loss of income might have on the behavior of Mexican criminal organizations and, therefore, on the security environment in Mexico."
Nevertheless, it's a potential gamechanger. The Economist puts it best: "Legalization could, in short, deal a blow to Mexico’s traffickers of a magnitude that no current policy has got close to achieving. The stoned and sober alike should bear that in mind when they cast their votes on Tuesday."
SEE ALSO: Mexican Diplomat Says America Pretty Much Invited The Sinaloa Drug Cartel Across The Border >
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