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Saturday, September 5, 2020

As the Legal Cannabis Market Grows, the Illegal Market Shrinks

 Chivis Martinez Borderland Beat  From Green Entrepreneur

A Congressional report quantifies what we all suspected was happening: Drug cartels are taking a hit as the legal cannabis market expands

As the Legal Cannabis Market Grows, the Illegal Market Shrinks

Legal marijuana entrepreneurs are finally starting to win the battle against a long-time enemy—the illicit market. For years, black market operators have undercut cannabis prices and taken away part of the cannabis market share.

But a new study has found that the coronavirus epidemic has accelerated the long hoped for reduction in the illegal market. The legal market has especially taken away business from Mexican drug cartels, according to a report from the Congressional ResearchService.

That means the legal cannabis industry is not just supplying U.S. consumers a safer, regulated weed market. It’s also keeping people away from the black market and products from Mexican drug trafficking organizations “that pose the greatest crime threat to the United States,” according to the report.

Positive impact

The findings of the report might seem somewhat ironic to those in the cannabis business. After all, cannabis remains illegal at the federal level, where it’s listed as a Schedule I drug on par with cocaine and heroin. But this federal report shows how much legal cannabis has helped curtail the purchase of illegal weed from south of the border.

The report states that authorities on both sides of the 2,000-mile-long border project a “continued decline” in U.S. demand for Mexican marijuana. They write that this is partially “due to legalized cannabis or medical cannabis in several U.S. states and Canada, reducing its value as part of Mexican trafficking organizations’ portfolio.

The report also credits Mexican authorities who seized 91 metric tons of cannabis and “eradicated” 2,250 hectares of marijuana in the first six months of 2019 alone.

According to the report, much of the Mexican drug trade centers in the state of Sinaloa, known for beautiful cities and beaches on the Gulf of California and many secluded mountainous areas difficult to access. The report notes that lower demand in the U.S., coupled with more law enforcement and the prospect of legalization in Mexico, has put the cartel in a tough spot.

“The Sinaloa Cartel appears to have been under a certain amount of pressure thus far in 2020. Some analysts warn that Sinaloa remains powerful given its dominance internationally and its infiltration of the upper reaches of the Mexican government,” the report noted. “Other analysts maintain that Sinaloa is in decline, citing its breakup into factions and violence from inter- and intra-organizational tensions.”

22 comments:

  1. This is a direct evidential blow to the anti legalization herd.

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  2. You mean to tell me that if you make something legal, it makes the lives if criminals harder? Say it aint so

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  3. As a American who has been around the illegal marijuana market my entire life, While i believe certain aspects of the mexican market have been affected drastically, there is no way in hell the legal markets are affecting the illegal trade in the US. The disgustingly high tax in which they imposed on it makes it unrealistic for ordinary smokers to use obtain it through legal means

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    1. IDK man ...as a illicit grower for 20 yrs in the NW, I did well. But after going legit, I make 10x, and no worries. There's still a big black market, but the price is less than half what it was. It's still done, but not like it was.

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  4. The cartels just grow into other areas of corruption as they have.

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  5. I just can't believe this. Who would have ever believed that by making pot legal would cause the criminal cartels to take a hit. After all, don't we all know that one of the trills of buying pot was the risk one endured by buying on the black market? One thing, you never knew just want you were smoking, most people love not knowing if they just ingested poison or not. Then the trill of not knowing if your dealer was about to rob you, or worst rat you out to the police. No, I just can't believe this. I mean, who in their right mind would have ever saw this coming? :-)))) It's just unbelievable. Hell, the next thing these fools will be saying is how the war on drugs has been a total complete fucking failure!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  6. Cartels are growing in the legal market.

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  7. It’s not just COVID. Feds have been busting farms all over the country this summer and have had some huge seizures. Prices have gone up 25% to 50% in some places. COVID saved many cannabis businesses that were going to collapse. It forced people to go to the legal market. Mexican brick packs are still available and are more expensive than ever. Still seems like a win for the cartels

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  8. Cartels sending marijuana to the states is not much of there priority, its takes up more space then coke or meth, and make less profit, so alot of them focus on the heroin, coke,meth,fentanyl,what they do is send workers to plant and grow it on mountains of California Oregon and Washington and if they make it, then they send it to the east coast

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    1. Not true cannabis was their cash cow for many years. There is very little overhead as far as producing cannabis in Mexico. It’s much more expensive to purchase the precursors and equipment to produce myth produce methamphetamine or fentanyl

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  9. Want to win the war on drugs and end the cartels? Legalize drugs.

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  10. This article in the Green Entrepreneur fails to explain how real mariguanos are going to be happy or afford paying 10 times more for the grifa when they can barely grow for themselves to sell cheap and to survive, guess if they can't sell grifa cookies they can then sell grifa cakes como dijo la Maria Antoñeta

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  11. The cartels maybe but 🇺🇸 bm growers still make alot and supply most.

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  12. I wld have to disagree with this statement. Most smokers will not pay 20 dollars for a gram of american grown "hydro" when they can get an oz. of good popcorn reggie for 30 to 120 bucks depending on how far you are from the broder. Illegal weed will not go away because american weed is extraordinarily overpriced. Legal weed is not the cash cow to the economy of the states that sell it and grow it thought it be. And theres plenty of reggie bud still crossing the border. Look at the busts and imagine how much it gets thru.

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  13. Cocaine is schedule II, along with opioids.

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  14. Green entrepreneur is just making shit up to entice investors...
    These enterprises are organized crime that will male sure they skim their profit off the investors accounts and deliver a bankruptcy sooner than later.
    They are sooo fucking smart they may have already sold their commissions to finance some of the propaganda and have invested some on the Cayman Islands tax shelters.

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  15. I went to the local MJ dispensary in town here in Sur Califas yesterday and like usual saw nothing but yuppies buying weed. Most people inside the joint(no pun intended) got funds to drop between 50 to 100 bones for their weekly supply of yerba. As a matter of fact, my friend commented on a dude inside the dispensary looking like a CO at the County Jail. I few blocks away we saw him at a gas station in a County vehicle putting on his work shirt uniform. I guess dealing with society's scumbugs can be stressful. That is the war on drugs in a nutshell. In your face they say no to dope but after dark they go looking for the dope man. A total and complete failure in America. You wanna win the war just legalize, regulate and tax everything. Anyways, if you want to lose your sole on dope than go ahead cause your probably just a worthless soulless animal.

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  16. Well indoor packs in California are 2800. Substantially more than 1600 from last year. Dispensary cannabis is not as fresh as fresh as black market indoor. The only health concern is pesticide use and PGR use such as, Phosphoload and Original.

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  17. Black market it alive and well with no end in sight.

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  18. The way to disrupt and minimize the illegal drug market is by creating a legal drug market: a system of control through a degree of legalization, competition, regulation and taxation.

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  19. I agree 100.
    As long as it looks nothing like existing legal pot programs and has reasonable tax. Black market will continue to thrive if the pricing and tax are outrageous

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  20. 12:20 legal weed depends a lot on enticing new customers with money, or ready to work for it, junior and high schoolers are prime beef and much sought after.
    Fack grifa, the profiteering corrupt profiteers and all their motherfacking lies

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