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> Half-measures, such as not prosecuting cocaine users, are not enough. If producing the stuff is still illegal, it will be criminals who produce it, and decriminalisation of consumption will probably increase demand and boost their profits.

Never thought about this. Makes sense. Decriminalisation could even reduce political appetite for legalisation if this effect prompts e.g. a gang-driven crime wave.

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VICE did an article on fentanyl production. Legal weed in the states cut into the Mexican cartels' weed marketshare, so they reduced their imports and pivoted into fentanyl which has 1/100th the cost to produce as heroin and is more addictive. They also increased their kidnapping and extortion rackets.

I saw a body cam footage the other day of a guy who got pulled over with a fuckton of weed. It was legal in the state he was in, but not the amount he had on his. He also made the mistakes of revealing his destination (non legal state). He seems like a reasonable, chill guy, but ended up somehow as a mule. The comments on the video however, implied that the tactic was to get a dumb American to move something like a ton of weed so that the cops are kept busy while the cartels start moving hard shit like meth, fent, etc.

Oh great, maybe coke was a better outlet for them

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