Steve Chapman had an awesome piece last week that sent drug war nutjob Cliff Kincaid over the edge yet again:

"Mexico is the biggest supplier of cannabis to the United States," he writes. "Control of that market is one of the things that Mexican drug cartels are willing to kill for. Legalizing weed in this country would be their worst nightmare. Why? Because it would offer Americans a legitimate supply of the stuff."

What he fails to realize is the fact that the Mexican drug cartels have already infiltrated the U.S. and are growing the "stuff" in the United States. Hence, legalization could have the effect of making these criminals into "legitimate" businessmen.

Ed Brayton has a good response:

The obvious answer is: so what? Yes, it could make those currently peddling an illegal product into a legitimate company selling a legal product, just as ending prohibition allowed some bootlegging operations to become legit businesses (though more likely the distribution would be done by already existing companies, most likely tobacco companies). But the question is, why is this a bad thing?

Has Kincaid not noticed that having legitimate businesses competing on the basis of quality, service and advertising is a hell of a lot better than having rival gangs compete for territory through mass violence?

Right on, but I would take things a step further though and refuse to concede that cartel bosses would even made able to make that transition. Yes, the marijuana industry would go legit, but that doesn't mean we have to patronize or give business permits to anyone on an international most-wanted list. The genius of legalization is that we get to decide who our marijuana comes from.