Losing marijuana business, Mexican cartels push heroin and meth instead

Mexican traffickers are sending a flood of cheap heroin and methamphetamine across the U.S. border, the latest drug seizure statistics show, in a new sign that America’s marijuana decriminalization trend is upending the North American narcotics trade.

Source

Oh boy, I'm not sure how people are going to feel about this. Many said legalizing marijuana would devastate the cartels and for the most part it did. But for anyone expecting them to pack up and go home, you have been mistaken.

The marijuana industry has propelled itself forward with such force that eventually opposition would arise. It has just manifested in ways that we couldn't comprehend from the beginning.

Some numbers to think about...

The amount of cannabis seized by U.S. federal, state and local officers along the boundary with Mexico has fallen 37 percent since 2011

Last year, U.S. agents confiscated 11,917 kilograms of coc aine along the Mexico border, down from 27,444 kilos in 2011.

Now for the bad news,

U.S. law enforcement agents seized 2,181 kilograms of heroin last year coming from Mexico, nearly three times the amount confiscated in 2009.

Last year, 15,803 kilograms of methamphetamine was seized along the border, up from 3,076 kilos in 2009.

I wouldn't immediately draw a direct correlation here, but it's hard not to. It doesn't take the Hubbell telescope to see what's happening here.

The United States has an estimated 600,000 heroin users, Payne said — a threefold increase in the past five years. But that number is dwarfed by the estimated 10 million Americans who abuse prescription painkillers.

And those ten million potential customers might like the sound of a $10 dollar alternative to their rising prescription costs. It's a hard pill to swallow for many, but the cartels have been running successfully for along time. Their marketing strategy seems to be working.

I would like to know how everyone feels about this and what might be done to offset this trend without slowing the progress of marijuana legalization. Do we just legalize it all like many would say or something less drastic?

Please respect all T&C's

I don't care what you do or how you do it in your spare time. This is a social nightmare that needs to be taken seriously.

We already learned this lesson in the 1920's.

Why do we have to learn it again already?

it all should be legal, taxed, regulated, and inspected for quality. No matter how illegal a drug is today people still buy them, if legal the revenue gained could do alot for treatment etc. just because its legal doesnt mean it will appeal to more people my 2 cents

a reply to: eisegesis

Legalize all drugs just like Portugal did. Then the Cartels would have nothing to send over the border.

a reply to: eisegesis

Before I could gage the actual situation I think it would be relevant to see if meth and heroin use is up in the states that have legalized marijuana.

Imagine if use of those drugs went down in legal states that would seriously take the piss out of those figures for any prohibitionists looking to use them as a statement.

That is just something to ponder.

Legalise heroin & the murder rate will increase...imo...


What I vision occuring is hard to describe with words...


As soon as I can relay it verbally I will...



What I can verbally speculate on is where is all the heroin coming from?

Which poppy fields?

Who's gaurding them?

What would they do to stop their money being affected?

That kinda leads back to my first sentence!

a reply to: onequestion

And what lesson is that? Elaborate please!

Prohibition was a ban on producing, importing/exporting alcohol.

This is about the legalization of marijuana and the possible unforeseen reaction to those who profited from the trade while it was illegal.

Quite the opposite if you ask me. The reaction to unbanning a substance rather than banning it.

a reply to: eisegesis

I would like to echo a few of the other comments

We need to see all drugs legalized.

Portugal is case in point in how to effectively deal with a natural human desire for altered states of consciousness.

The hypocrisy of the drug war is beyond absurd, especially in the light of absurd amount opiate addicts that big pharma creates on a weekly basis.

We should also do something about the CIA/DEA collusion with the drug cartels, oh wait we are probably not supposed to talk about that!

originally posted by: Swills
a reply to: eisegesis

Legalize all drugs just like Portugal did. Then the Cartels would have nothing to send over the border.

Then what would they do? Make an honest living as potato farmers? They need are business to thrive otherwise they wouldn't jump through so many hoops to get thing into our country.

Unless they don't have to jump through any hoops at all. Just like the illegals.

Good news from every perspective IMO. I agree with Swills too that this makes a good example of what happens when you Decriminalize something so why not take away all the illegal profit to be made from such things??

In any case, it's still good news. MJ needs to be removed from the same group of activity as Heroin, Crack, etc. They are not the same nor are they close. Let the cartels do their thing without MJ as their easy cash cow for a while as long as MJ has a chance by not being included in the same kinds of issues. Similar to how nobody includes Alcohol anymore as an issue, so should MJ be considered a non-issue.

It's still not completely honest or true and there is still a ways to go until people fully look honestly at the reality we live in, but it's a step closer. This does stand as an example who is and was correct about the situation however. I wonder if any of the Pro War on Drugs folks will finally come forward and admit they're wrong on this whole issue??? Doubt it....

a reply to: eisegesis

And what lesson is that? Elaborate please!

The lesson that was learned is that prohibition doesn't work. If people want ti they will find a way to get it even if they have to break the law to get it.

This is about the legalization of marijuana and the possible unforeseen reaction to those who profited from the trade while it was illegal.

Actually it wasn't unforeseen. Just like with alcohol when it was made illegal that gave all the money and the power that came with it to the criminals. After we legalized alcohol the mobs lost a lot of money and power. So we knew if we were to make drugs like pot legal the cartels would either move to another drug or go out of business.

originally posted by: Grimpachi
a reply to: eisegesis

Before I could gage the actual situation I think it would be relevant to see if meth and heroin use is up in the states that have legalized marijuana.

Imagine if use of those drugs went down in legal states that would seriously take the piss out of those figures for any prohibitionists looking to use them as a statement.

That is just something to ponder.

Good point. While the numbers aren't current, this should still give us a better understanding. Lets check it out...

Drug Abuse Patterns and Trends in Colorado and the Denver/Boulder Metropolitan Area - Update: January 2014

Among Colorado and Denver/Boulder area indicators, methamphetamine showed small increases in proportions of treatment admissions and drug-related deaths and hospital discharge rates. Colorado and Denver/Boulder area coc aine indicators reflected downward trends, including treatment admissions, drug-related mortality, and hospital discharges. However, coc aine continued to rank first among National Forensic Labora­tory Information System (NFLIS) drug reports in Denver in the first half of 2013. Heroin indicators increased, based on treat­ment admissions data, availability, and drug-related mortality. Statewide and in the Denver/Boulder area, prescription opioids/opiates other than heroin represented a smaller but increasing percentage of treatment admissions relative to other drugs. Indicators for prescription opioids/opiates other than heroin also showed upward trends in indicators, including hospital discharges and drug-related mortality.

While I don't think the increases are significant enough to draw a correlation, they have increased. Whether its related or not is the question. Some finger pointers might call marijuana the "gateway drug" and the increase in it's use might contribute to the increase in other drugs use. I'm not sure. But some good info is contained in the link.

a reply to: buster2010

Okay, thank you for making me understand better.

I was looking at it one-sided.

Question though, when droves of infected drug users are using public utilities and passing out in parks and movie theaters, how will that affect the ones who choose sobriety? It sounds lovely on paper, but I still think there are many unforeseen results of legalizing something. Society today is not what it was then. Different drugs produce different results and affect different markets.

You all need to take a closer look at Portugal...

Because it's far from flawless...


Every drug decriminalised has seen usage increase... Wiki.
It's still a crime to have more "they" think you should have in your possession...
& any more than personal usage dosages leads to an intent to supply charge...


Growing is still illegal so anything you want, you guessed it, back to "they" again...



It's profiteering it has nothing to do with curbing drug use or lessening crime...
It's all about the pay day...


Now back to permitted doses, 1 gram of heroin is all that a person may "walk out of the store with"...

Now heroin users are not known for their philanthropy but they sure as hell know when to pitch in together to get sh# faced...

& 1 gram just ain't gonna cut it for a group of desperate smackheads who all chip in a few dollars...


Right back to square one getting a fix on the streets...

Not to mention Crack Cocaine, as far as my research has shown, isn't on the list...

Search Heroin & Portugal on Google, & apart from HIV dropping, there ain't a god damn lot to go on & my guess is because it's knowledge they don't want to share...

Also still plenty of Heroin & Cocaine being smuggled in Portugal, and to think all that would go away in America with decriminalisation, with roughly 330m people compared to Portugals 10m is dangerous thinking.

Portugal is an experiment on a small population, & the fruits of their labour isn't widely publicised when it comes to Heroin & Crack Cocaine.

originally posted by: eisegesis
a reply to: buster2010

Question though, when droves of infected drug users are using public utilities and passing out in parks and movie theaters, how will that affect the ones who choose sobriety? It sounds lovely on paper, but I still think there are many unforeseen results of legalizing something. Society today is not what it was then. Different drugs produce different results and affect different markets.

LOL

Sorry to laugh, but I substituted "infected drug users" with "drunks" and could not help myself.

We would deal with them the same way, however hopefully with all the money we would be saving on the prison population we could have programs put in place to help those who are unable to control their addictions, something we are currently lacking anyways. The dollar tag on treatment is ridiculous and contributes to the cycle of those addicted not having any hope.

We have legal drugs that create the same problems, big pharma creates this culture in the form of people being addicted to speed/opiates/tranquilizers a whole list of other psychotropic drugs that do god knows what and it is simply brushed under the rug.

Treatment is the answer not criminalization.

a reply to: eisegesis

Thanks for that link it is very informative though I think a bit misleading. They count an increase in admissions to rehabilitation centers as an increase of public use. That is one way of looking at it but another way would be that would be an indication of a dropoff in public use because more people are getting clean or trying to.

I looked around for arrests and or seizures of drugs like me th and hero in but I couldn't find a decent site to compare upward or downward trends there. For me those reports would be the most telling.

I know last year they uster a huge meth ring in Colorado. The people were dealing out of a taco truck you could actually go up order a taco with a side of meth. Crazy.

originally posted by: eisegesis
a reply to: buster2010

Okay, thank you for making me understand better.

I was looking at it one-sided.

Question though, when droves of "infected" drug users are using public utilities and passing out in parks and movie theaters, how will that affect the ones who choose sobriety? It sounds lovely on paper, but I still think there are many unforeseen results of legalizing something. Society today is not what it was then. Different drugs produce different results and affect different markets.

Infected drug users?!

Infected with what?

originally posted by: Brotherman
it all should be legal, taxed, regulated, and inspected for quality. No matter how illegal a drug is today people still buy them, if legal the revenue gained could do alot for treatment etc. just because its legal doesnt mean it will appeal to more people my 2 cents

It is not unlawful. It never has been and never should be. It shouldn't be any different than any other 'thing' There should be no authority for the taxing of things in a civilization with property rights.

I don't care about legal, that's for businesses and such. Unfortunately, voluntary compliance is at an all time high, and those with guns have cages to fill. What's the point of having free will in this society we are building anyways?

PS. I thought the Mexican cartels were making all their money by taking over the Mexican coal industry currently. We should all know who the the real drug dealers are as they've been Caught In the Act so many times.

a reply to: pseudoless

Have you been living under a rock?

HIV, Hep B/C, skin infections, bacterial infections, overall bad hygiene and depleted immune systems will cause the spread of unrelated illness.

Drug use increasingly associated with microbial infections

Illicit drug users are at increased risk of being exposed to microbial pathogens and are more susceptible to serious infections, say physicians in a new report.

Let me know when you find a "functioning" meth addict you'd like to share a soda with.

a reply to: eisegesis

If America is serious about its age-old 'war on drugs' policy, they should go hard or go home. Start using the assets from terrorist surveillance overseas to combat drug smuggling. Use predator drones to find and take out Cartel members even over foreign soil. We do it all the time in the Middle East right?

So that being said, apparently Islamic extremist terrorists are a bad enough threat to create and utilize those resources, assets, and technology.

And with that being said, apparently hard narcotics flooding over the border isn't a bad enough threat to utilize those same resources, regardless of who cares.