Ok wow, I didn't knew that the proportion of inmates related would be that high! I didn't make my homework hehe.
But drug cartels will still be part of the picture; with police out of the way they would have one less thing to worry about and they will still be fighting between each other for the market. Those people will not give up at all.
But drug cartels will still be part of the picture
I'm having a difficult time understanding this position. If it suddenly became as legal to grow marijuana as it is to grow tomatoes, why would someone purchase their marijuana from a cartel? Assuming a country like the US regulated pot the same way that tobacco or alcohol is regulated, why wouldn't a customer just buy pot from the local supermarket?
Supply would increase quickly eroding the high-margin that attracts the cartels. They'd still be around as long as there was any drug to smuggle, but I'd expect they would bother with pot any longer.
I'm more curious what would happen to demand. And how much of the increase in demand would be as a result of actual new pot users versus current pot users who are now allowed to be open about their use.
> But drug cartels will still be part of the picture
Er, why? Its not like the similar organized crime operations that were involved in the alcohol trade during Prohibition remained "part of the picture" as "alcohol cartels" once Prohibition was lifted.
They still existed, in some cases, continuing the other organized crime they had been engaged in. So, to the extent that drug cartels are involved in other for-profit criminal activity, you can expect that with drugs legalized and that market taken over by pharmaceutical companies -- who exist, have lots of money, and existing connections with regulators -- some of the cartels would try to pivot to focus on their other lines of business. But they wouldn't still exist as drug cartels.
The police won't be "out of the way" if the cartels continue with murder, selling to minors, underage workers, kidnapping, tax evasion etc. Those are all still crimes even if hard drugs were made legal. The cartels would have to choose between going legit, and delivering goods like coors, malboro etc, or continuing their other illegal activities and get taken down by the police
> ... or continuing their other illegal activities and get taken down by the police.
Yeah sure, just as they are being taken down right now. Haha, they even made you consider to change the laws on their favor (yeah, if you think you came up with that idea, think again).
Also, implying that bad guys care about police/law/wrong/right...
But drug cartels will still be part of the picture; with police out of the way they would have one less thing to worry about and they will still be fighting between each other for the market. Those people will not give up at all.