Legalize marijuana to stop the drug cartels

Gary Johnson, the former governor of New Mexico, recently wrote the following article, published in the Huffington Post, in support of legalizing Marijuana. He asserts that our government's current "war on drugs" policy is failing to reduce drug trafficking while increasing drug related violence. The most promising strategy to cripple the drug cartels, according to Johnson, is to legalize marijuana, eliminating their monopoly and slashing their revenues.

Gary Johnson writes:

"There were 72 bodies found on a ranch ninety miles south of the Texas border -- obvious victims of a drug cartel massacre. Bullets have been hitting public buildings in El Paso, and the Washington Post is reporting that at least $20 billion a year in cash is being smuggled across the U. S. border each year. What is it going to take to convince the federal government that current drug policies are not working? The fact is that the current drug laws are contributing to an all-out war on our southern border -- all in the name of a modern-day prohibition that is no more logical or realistic than the one we abandoned 75 years ago.

Mexican drug cartels make at least 60 percent of their revenue from selling marijuana in the United States, according to the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. The FBI estimates that the cartels now control distribution in more than 230 American cities, from the Southwest to New England.

How are they able to do this? Because America's policy for nearly 70 years has been to keep marijuana -- arguably no more harmful than alcohol and used by 15 million Americans every month -- confined to the illicit market, meaning we've given criminals a virtual monopoly on something that U.S. researcher Jon Gettman estimates is a $36 billion a year industry, greater than corn and wheat combined. We have implemented laws that are not enforceable, which has thereby created a thriving black market. By denying reality and not regulating and taxing marijuana, we are fueling not only this massive illicit economy, but a war that we are clearly losing.

In 2006, Mexican President Felipe Calderon announced a new military offensive against his country's drug cartels. Since then, more than 28,000 people have been killed in prohibition-fueled violence, and the cartels are more powerful than ever, financed primarily by marijuana sales. Realizing that his hard-line approach has not worked, earlier this month Calderon said the time has come for Mexico to have an open debate about regulating drugs as a way to combat the cartels. Ignoring this problem, Mr. Calderon said, "is an unacceptable option."

Calderon's predecessor, Vicente Fox, went even further, writing on his blog that "we should consider legalizing the production, sale and distribution of drugs" as a way to "weaken and break the economic system that allows cartels to earn huge profits... Radical prohibition strategies have never worked."

Fox is not alone. His predecessor, as well as former presidents of Brazil and Colombia, has also spoken out for the need to end prohibition.

And they're right. Crime was rampant during alcohol prohibition as well. Back then it was led by gangsters like Al Capone. Now it's lead by cartels."

Find the full article at the Huffington Post