[grphtrdr]

I think we are at the point in the United States that we almost have a moral responsibility to decriminalize all drugs just to assist with defunding the Mexican cartels.

When you add that in with what it would do to violence in the US directly, I don't see how someone can argue the other side from a moral perspective.

[ianai]

Agreed. Want to make serious strides on illegal immigration to the US? Remove the funding of the cartels.

[randompwd]

...or force them to quadruple down on alternative income streams such as human smuggling instead of drug smuggling.

[Scoundreller]

Are the cartels facing a labour shortage or something and sticking to their core competency and opting-out of other industries?

[Gravey]

Could you explain how decriminalization helps to defund the cartels?

With legalization comes regulation and better control over the supply chain. I don’t see how decriminalization accomplishes anything other than saving court costs/costs of imprisonment.

[Scoundreller]

Canada’s marijuana legalization has lead to 2 things:

1. A big (and increasing) shift into purchasing from the legal market

2. A price crash on the illegal market. Like half the dollars per ounce going into the black market.

No real sign of increased consumption. And marijuana isn’t this cool and exciting thing anymore. It’s just there if you want it, otherwise carryon.

[Gravey]

So there is a big difference between legalization and decriminalization. I was asking about the latter.

While I can see some of the benefits of decriminalization (easier to provide help to those who need it, enforcement can target distributors rather than users, etc), it really just seems like a political half measure to me.

[Scoundreller]

Yes, and I fear when decriminalization leads to civil penalties instead, it leads to wonky enforcement because it becomes about revenue (fines).