I'm no expert...

So, I'm reading this article on legalizing marijuana and I don't think people have thought this one through very much.

First of all, I wouldn't consider Mexicans that sell weed a "cartel." Sure, you might seize a million pounds a year in a single state. If that's what you seized, how much pot do you think the Mexicans are bringing over? They'd have to be driving semi-trucks across the border full of marijuana. And for that kind of transportation, you'd have to be making a lot of trips to make it profitable. We're talking weekly deliveries. We're talking similar to large grocery stores. If this is the case, then sure, I can see one needing a cartel to keep that connected and running smoothly. But why not then do something radical like don't let the trucks full of drugs into the country! I know that you can't stop and search every truck that drives up from Mexico, but you can! How many truckfuls of Mexican produce come up every day? Can you really not tell whose camper is full of weed? It's the one with the leaves sticking out from under the big canvas tarp! As a guy who knows nothing about obtaining drugs, I still understand that weed is cheap. Kids buy it. I also understand that gasoline is not. So you have to transport a shit-ton of weed from Mexico to the US to make the distribution of it profitable. You have to have a warehouse to store it and distribute it to the dealers and the dealers have to travel from the warehouse (unless you make your truck make multiple deliveries which can generate suspicion and cost a lot in fuel). Then the warehouse takes and cut and the dealers take their cuts and the drivers take cuts... This isn't a lucrative sale. This is a promotional sale. This is the product that gets people to shop with you until they find the big ticket items. But being in a cartel is about not being known by the consumer (lest you be known by the police). However, if th cartel does use inexpensive weed as a segue into the harder, more profitable drugs a) don't lie to us and say that marijuana trafficking is a lucrative cartel-worthy business, and b) oh wait, you have to lie because if you said it was a way of getting kids started then legalizing it wouldn't be a solution and if you legalized one drug you would have to legalize them all.

The other thing no one considers is that illegality is the alure of drugs. It is an act of rebellion, and if the government says, "toke away, kids!" the kids would not oblige.

I gotta roll on out, but think about it.