| Brick weed. |
At least one drug warrior is admitting that marijuana legalization measures in the states are leading to a decline in weed crossing the border from Mexico. An unnamed El Paso undercover narcotics officer tells KHOU in Houston that he’s starting to see more marijuana grown in the U.S. in the border town he patrols.
According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, the amount of marijuana flowing across the border since 2009 has been cut in half. The same report also points out that the catels have been busy fighting with each other over the last few years, leaving the door open for American-grown ganja to move in.
The KHOU report focuses on two alleged dealers in El Paso – one a soldier at the nearby Army base – selling “kush” that cops estimate at $3,000 to $5,000 per half-pound.
Howard Campbell, a professor with the University of Texas at El Paso who has studied the drug war, says it’s only a matter of time before the cartels catch on and start growing better-quality herb and competing with American growers – mostly from California and Colorado – shipping their product elsewhere.
“I think the Mexican cartels are rational business organizations.” said Campbell. (Editor’s note: Rational?!? Cutting off heads is rational?!?) “Even though they’re very violent in Mexico, what they’ll do with the growing legalization in the U.S. is figure out ways to get their product to the American consumer.”
Police say they’re already starting to see that shift and the unnamed officer says they’ve already intercepted at least one bundle of “Mexican Kush” come across the border. We think they’re just making shit up to save their job, since they’re so clearly misusing the term Kush here.
But despite the shift in marijuana consumption from foreign to domestic, the narcotics officer interviewed doesn’t seem to think legalization of a drug that most Americans agree should be legal wouldn’t hurt the Mexican cartels. “If all the states legalized it the Mexicans would somehow snake their way into it because they can produce a cheaper product. They can produce more of it,” he said.
Never mind that if every toker in the U.S. could grow their own for free, this wouldn’t be an issue. This cop has his job to protect.
View the report below.
