[oldmancoyote]

I'm afraid the analogy to prohibition doesn't work.

Following the end of prohibition, beer truck drivers became beer truck drivers, bartenders became bartenders, but the violent criminals moved into other rackets: drugs, prostitution, gambling, extortion, and the big one corruption. What are the violent element and the large number of financially distressed workers in the rural pot industry going to do?

Once you create a criminal class, it does not go away. Only the Chinese, the Filipino, and the Argentine governments have found the means to eliminate these classes. Their means are far too brutal to mention here. I would never advocate them. We are mostly helpless.

I live in Mexico half the year. Once pot is legalized on a widespread basis, these *s will show up at my door demanding $100 a month or else.

Don't get me wrong as I believe there is nothing we can do. Perhaps improving the situation with vigorous law enforcement would keep the problem under control.

[stickfigure]

All forms of crime are not fungible. Drug prohibition is hard to enforce because none of the parties involved object to the transaction. Extortion rackets are not scalable - at least one party is inclined to look at law enforcement as the hero in the story. Corruption isn't something you just set up on a street corner. Prostitution isn't that big of a business and at the end of the day, the prostitutes really don't need you. Gambling is already legal pretty much anywhere there's an Indian reservation (here in the US, at any rate).

The criminal class may not go away immediately, but you can take away most of their income. No other form of crime is as lucrative. Drugs really are special.