Mexican cartels now trafficking cigarettes? « Hot Air: Will legalizing drugs end the cartels?
Heisenberg
2012/09/01 23:02:29
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NASDAQ.com reports:
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A Mexican industrial group said Tuesday an increase in tax on cigarettes that went into effect in 2011 has led to a proliferation of contraband, and that illegal cigarettes now account for nearly 17% of the cigarettes sold in the country. "
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A Mexican industrial group said Tuesday an increase in tax on cigarettes that went into effect in 2011 has led to a proliferation of contraband, and that illegal cigarettes now account for nearly 17% of the cigarettes sold in the country. "
Read More: http://hotair.com/archives/2012/09/01/mexican-cart...
The main reason the cartels are so powerful as of late is due to the fact that the drugs they offer are illegal, which means that if you want to get those drugs, you have to go through the cartels that deal those drugs out. The cartels, as of late, are like a monopoly - since they're the only ones that offer access to the products they deal with, the people trying to obtain those products are at the cartel leaders' mercies, both economically and morally, and the cartels can force theirclients to commit various crimes and shell out huge portions of their money in exchange for the drugs. Not to mention the unprofessional ways many drug cartels produce the drugs, and the few regulations in place. (You don't say?)
If, on the other hand, the drugs were decriminalized, other companies could start producing the drugs, giving the cartels' clients a way to obtain the drugs without having to go through the cartels and doing the cartel leaders' bidding. This means the cartels, unable to support themselves financially like before, would slowly shrivel up and stumble out of the spotlight, and crimes related to the cartels would go down. Add light regulations and light taxes to the situation ('light' as in "just enough that people can get the drug...
The main reason the cartels are so powerful as of late is due to the fact that the drugs they offer are illegal, which means that if you want to get those drugs, you have to go through the cartels that deal those drugs out. The cartels, as of late, are like a monopoly - since they're the only ones that offer access to the products they deal with, the people trying to obtain those products are at the cartel leaders' mercies, both economically and morally, and the cartels can force theirclients to commit various crimes and shell out huge portions of their money in exchange for the drugs. Not to mention the unprofessional ways many drug cartels produce the drugs, and the few regulations in place. (You don't say?)
If, on the other hand, the drugs were decriminalized, other companies could start producing the drugs, giving the cartels' clients a way to obtain the drugs without having to go through the cartels and doing the cartel leaders' bidding. This means the cartels, unable to support themselves financially like before, would slowly shrivel up and stumble out of the spotlight, and crimes related to the cartels would go down. Add light regulations and light taxes to the situation ('light' as in "just enough that people can get the drugs without dealing with the world of criminals, but not enough to encourage people to go back to the cartels for cheaper prices and abuse the drugs"), and the cartels are almost unable to get back up on their feet.
Long story short: I don't support giving everyone all-you-can-smoke access to drugs, since we all know how they interact with the human body, but I do support decriminalizing them to keep the drug-related crime rates down.
If I import tobacco and sell it to buys tax free, I have the advantage of a lower price without obeying the law.
Pot-heads don't obey the law now, why would they obey the law later?
You don't see this problem with cannabis products in the Netherlands. Consumers know that marijuana / hashish that is legally sold in Dutch coffee shops is both high quality and free from contaminants, which can't be said about illegal street drugs. And since legal cannabis is reasonably cheap, the black market is pretty much nonexistent.
Even if cannabis products were taxed in Holland, I believe that consumers would still trust the legal product over cheap street hashish that might be cut with who-knows-what.
Facts are stubborn things.
USA is a cartel.
Up is down.
Down is up.
You have to engage in mental gymnastics for liberalism to make sense.
When all else fails call somebody a RACIST!
Look a criminal organization that engages in extortion can be labeled as a cartel, money taken by threat of force is extortion, taxation with the threat of prison is extortion.
The fact is that the us taxes the tabacco industry at an unjustly high rate, this artificially inflated the price, driving people to seek out a less expensive market, in this case a black market. Simple.
Your lack of logic implies you are impaired right now.
People that break the law will suddenly obey the law when the law is changed?
Depends on the street.
>Marijuana is most often imported from Mexico, the price rolls as it hits the states.
Depends on where you live.
>The government would grow it because it's cheap, then tax it. It's still much cheaper than paying the price it currently is.
You are not too clever are you?
They must not have taught you about the free market in government school.
Consumers make choices. They generally buy the cheapest priced product all things being equal.
If somebody offers the same product at a lower price BECAUSE THEY DID NOT PAY TAX, consumers will buy the cheaper product.
If you pot heads don't follow the law now, why would you follow the law and pay the tax in the future?
You won't.
You are laughably wrong and reality proves you so.
You are far more intelligent and well-written than the average pot-head on this site.
You have to get rid of the taxes and regulations that create the underground market in the first place...and government refuses to relinquish that kind of power.
If a cartel does not pay tax now, why on earth would they pay tax after drugs are 'legalized'?
Cigarettes are legal now yet almost 1 fifth of the market is serviced by cartels.
Why on earth follow the law when it's cheaper not to?
You pot-heads don't follow the law now but you will magically grow a conscience and buy more expensive legal weed?
Are you high right now?
1.) If drug legalization or decriminalization doesn't work, how do you explain that the USA has the highest rate of cannabis use (42.6% of the population have tried marijuana), whereas the Netherlands have less than half the rate of the US (19.8%)? Why is the number of hard drug users also much higher in the USA (8.5 times higher than in Holland in case of cocaine)?
(Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/r... )
2.) If tobacco was illegal in the USA, do you think that cigarette smuggling and other tobacco-related crime would increase or decline? Would the prison population, law enforcement costs, and taxation go up or down?
3.) Seeing that there is very little alcohol smuggling, probably because liquor is quite cheap, could the real problem be the gross overtaxation of tobacco products?
4.) Considering that alcohol causes more deaths than all illegal drugs combined, do you think that alcohol should also be prohibited, like back in the 1920s?
More Americans want to get high.
> If tobacco was illegal in the USA, do you think that cigarette smuggling and other tobacco-related crime would increase or decline?
Decline depending on the penalties.
> Seeing that there is very little alcohol smuggling
You are clearly not operating in reality.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/stor...
>Considering that alcohol causes more deaths than all illegal drugs combined
Depends how you calculate. Do you include illegal use of prescription drugs? If so, your numbers are off.
I believe in legalizing EVERYTHING. I also believe in no government welfare especially government medical care.
Want to poison yourself? Go to it!
And many of them are teenagers, which might be the real problem. Mature adults are less likely to engage in high-risk activities like drug use. Thanks to cannabis prohibition, 12-year-olds can easily buy marijuana behind the school yard, from the same street dealer that also sells hard drugs. In the Netherlands, minors have a much harder time obtaining marijuana.
The US administration did the right thing when it comes to alcohol. The legal drinking age in the USA is higher than in most European countries, with the result that Americans have a much lower rate of alcohol-related deaths and medical conditions.
(Source: http://politicalcalculations.... )
"I believe in legalizing EVERYTHING. I also believe in no government welfare especially government medical care."
Then what are we arguing about? :) I believe in the exact same thing. I somehow got the impression that you were against drug legalization.