>Making them legal will give the cartels even more power because they will now be able to legally sell drugs in the US.

Does Anheuser-Busch engage in lethal turf warfare in the manner of Al Capone? Yes, I agree that the cartels would move into legal territory but quite frankly, as someone who spends a lot of time in Mexico, the country would be happy to see the terror gone, jobs created and the tax benefits reaped.

Re: legalization and decriminalization: see recent studies in Portugal where addiction rates and criminal activity is plummeting.