The effect of the legalization of marijuana on crime.

The Effect of The Legalization of Marijuana on Crime
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The Effect of the Legalization of Marijuana on Crime
Introduction
Many states and countries around the world have been legalizing marijuana or decriminalizing it. The history of banning production, distribution or marijuana led to many unintended consequences. Most people have been incarcerated for possession of what has been found to be a healthy product with medicinal properties. Though many states still enforce the marijuana banning policies, new studies have found that the rationale for criminalizing marijuana may have been ill-advised. Banning production, distribution and use of marijuana was largely a political issue in the early 20th century CITATION Joh173 \l 1033 (Hari, 2017). Internationally, countries like the Netherlands have always legalized marijuana, and they have very low crime rates especially related to marijuana use. Portugal and other European nations decriminalized marijuana among other drugs and a decade into their program; there is less crime related to drugs. Historically, illegal drugs have largely been associated with cartels and drug trafficking organizations who fight for territory, distribution networks, and control of the income from selling these drugs. Most crimes related to drugs have not been because of the effect of the drug on the individual though most of these drugs can adversely affect brain functioning. There has been strong evidence that legalizing or decriminalizing recreational marijuana use reduces crime. Legalizing marijuana has been found to weaken cartels and drug trafficking organizations, leading to a general drop in crime rates and enable governments to reassign resources and law enforcers tasked with cracking down marijuana to other law enforcement channels thus reducing crime.
Weakened cartels and Drug Trafficking Organizations
Cartels and many criminal gangs depend on income from producing and distributing drugs. It is a very lucrative business, and most leaders of these drug trafficking organizations are multibillionaires controlling empires earning billions in profit. Historically, Pablo Escobar and El Chapo (Joaquin Guzman) who have been Columbian and Mexican cartel leaders have been known for their wealth from drug trafficking. Drug trafficking is a very risky business because it is ‘playing hide and seek’ with the government and also keeping an eye of other cartels who want to control the production and or distribution network. The drug users pay high prices for these products, and thus drug trafficking organizations are very profitable. According to CITATION Jam181 \l 1033 (Doward, 2018), ‘It costs around $75 to produce a pound of marijuana in Mexico, which can then be sold on for $6,000 depending on the quality.’ Legalizing marijuana creates an alternative source of the products often for lower prices because the legal channel of producing and distribution of the drug is not risky and it is regulated by the government. In most cases, the cartels cannot beat the prices of the legally produced and distributed marijuana, and therefore their pricing cannot overcome the laws of demand and supply. Most people opt for legally distributed marijuana because alternative sources are not worth the risk.
Thus, drug trafficking organization lose a big market share to the licensed producers and distributors. Since these organizations depend mostly on the drug money, they weaken over time and as they aren’t profitable and the risk is too high for very low returns. Marijuana is the main source of income because it has big margins of profits and it has many consumers that the other narcotics. According to CITATION Jam181 \l 1033 (Doward, 2018), ‘Mexican cartels smuggle other drugs such as cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine across the border, the market for marijuana is the largest drug market in the US and the one from which the cartels can make the fattest profit.’ Thus, legalizing marijuana takes away the cash cow of drug trafficking organizations and their other sources of income cannot sustain the cartel’s operations. Eventually, these cartels eventually die off or become less powerful because even the other illegal drugs cannot substitute the income drawn from marijuana.
General drop in crime rates
The operations of illegal drugs are marred by other crimes especially murders from cartel wars or on any individual who is suspected of snitching on the organization’s operations. Each cartel has to defend its territory, ensure there are no bystanders and no witnesses to the activities. Columbia and Mexico are some of the countries which cartels have been in unending supremacy wars trying to control the business and has led to the loss of many lives. Most cartels want to become dominant in the business to cultivate monopolistic business operations which enables them to set prices of their products with big margins of profits. The cartel wars are violent and bloody and are some of the indirect causes of the increase in crime. In some cases, disagreements between members of the same cartel lead to violence and or other crimes. Some members even break off to operate as independent cartels, and these create friction within the cartel organizational structures. Loyalty is important to cartels as they operate illegally and each cartel member has to ensure he/she avoid arrest or successful conviction for engaging in drug trafficking operations. Thus, to enforce loyalty, murders of cartel members is common and or of their family members. If a member reports on a cartel, he/she can be tortured, maimed and or murdered to serve as an example to the other gang members. The initiation or promotion process into a gang is often by committing a crime sometimes murder of an innocent person or a member of a rival gang. Cartels also control other criminal activities such as robberies and kidnapping to supplement their income. All of these activities are indirectly related to the actual trafficking and or usage of the drugs.
Thus, decriminalizing or legalizing marijuana weakens drug trafficking organizations and cartels which thrive on committing a crime. Like noted above, most crimes are organized by gangs, and if they are weakened, crime generally falls. Most gangs commit the aforementioned crimes for power and control of the empire and its resources including distribution network. If there is nothing to fight for, crime generally drops. According to CITATION Jam181 \l 1033 (Doward, 2018), ‘when a state on the Mexican border legalized medical use of the drug, violent crime fell by 13% on average.’ On separate findings by CITATION Jud18 \l 1033 (Vonberg, 2018), ‘Robberies have decreased by 19 percent in US border states which have adopted Medical Marijuana Laws, murders by 10 percent and assaults by nine percent and drug-law related murders have fallen by nearly 41 percent.’ Thus, legalizing marijuana has a significant ...