Mexican Cartels Destroy Marijuana Crops to Grow Opium

As previously reported, the legalization of marijuana in the United States has negatively impacted the profits of Mexican drug cartels. Thanks to major producers of recreational marijuana like Washington and Colorado, as well as the medical market in California, Americans now have access to high-quality, legally grown marijuana. As a result, no one is buying the low-quality product offered by Mexican suppliers anymore.

Because of this, marijuana plantations along the Mexican border have started to disappear, as they are no longer profitable for local farmers. However, on the other hand, cartels have now shifted to producing and distributing much more dangerous substances than marijuana—they have moved on to manufacturing methamphetamines and heroin. Former marijuana fields are now being converted into opium poppy fields.

The magazine Business Insider presented an anonymous report on the situation at the Mexico–U.S. border to attendees of the international economic forum held last Tuesday in Davos. According to the source, cartels have already completely converted their former marijuana plantations to poppy cultivation, with the goal of producing heroin for the American market.

The report states: “The cartels simply decided to burn the marijuana fields, since they are no longer profitable.”

In any case, the report makes one thing clear: very soon, a large amount of heroin may appear on the American black market. Ironically, legalization helped the U.S. take away cartel profits, which they have decided to replace by producing a much more dangerous and lucrative drug.