DEA Accidentally Argues for Marijuana Legalization
Our friends at LEAP noticed this remarkable DEA testimony at a Senate hearing:
What a mess. Who'd have guessed that a drug known for producing feeling of pleasant relaxation would end up financing massive international networks of murderous gangsters.
Well, let's get one thing straight: this isn't happening because the Mexican drug lords grow the best weed. In fact, their product utterly sucks and they wouldn't be able to sell a single dime-bag of their seedy bloodstained schwag if it weren't for American law enforcement destroying as much domestic cannabis as possible.
It really is that simple. Every plant we uproot, every stash we "take off the streets," every cent we spend in our mindless war on marijuana is another dollar poured into the pockets of the pot mafia. They get to sell this stuff only because we help them dominate the market, and if we let responsible Americans do it instead, the cartels' marijuana profits would shrink to zero by the end of the next harvest season.
If you don't believe me, just give us one year to prove you wrong.
Mexico is the number one foreign supplier of marijuana abused in the United States. In fact, according to a 2008 inter-agency report, marijuana is the top revenue generator for Mexican DTOs—a cash crop that finances corruption and the carnage of violence year after year. The profits derived from marijuana trafficking—an industry with minimal overhead costs, controlled entirely by the traffickers—are used not only to finance other drug enterprises by Mexico’s poly-drug cartels, but also to pay recurring “business†expenses, purchase weapons, and bribe corrupt officials.
What a mess. Who'd have guessed that a drug known for producing feeling of pleasant relaxation would end up financing massive international networks of murderous gangsters.
Well, let's get one thing straight: this isn't happening because the Mexican drug lords grow the best weed. In fact, their product utterly sucks and they wouldn't be able to sell a single dime-bag of their seedy bloodstained schwag if it weren't for American law enforcement destroying as much domestic cannabis as possible.
It really is that simple. Every plant we uproot, every stash we "take off the streets," every cent we spend in our mindless war on marijuana is another dollar poured into the pockets of the pot mafia. They get to sell this stuff only because we help them dominate the market, and if we let responsible Americans do it instead, the cartels' marijuana profits would shrink to zero by the end of the next harvest season.
If you don't believe me, just give us one year to prove you wrong.
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