I happen to think that the increased criminilazation of marijuana upped the stakes and made the risks of growing it or selling it too high for the average person. So since there will always be a demand for pot (and no I do not smoke it anymore) someone has to supply it. Guess who fills that gap- yep a Marijuana cartel. These criminals are brutal and should be dealt with as the law demands. But if marijuana was treated much like alcohol we would remove the reason for such criminals to be involved. Think the gangsters of prohibition. Oh and I do not think legaliziing pot means we should legalize any and all drugs. I just hate the idea of good police officers losing their lives over pot. It is just senseless and way too sad.
Maybe they should have a guest pot grower program.
Marijuana cartel in B.C. = Hells Angels, Asian gangs, traditional organized crime. Interesting that they are attempting to legalize pot and one of the worst Canadian LE murders in years occurs while the RCMP is investigating it.
If that's the case, then a comparison to Prohibition is not fair.
Imagine if during Prohibition we legalized just beer. Or wine. Would that have had any affect on organized crime?
In your scenario, we'll end up with legal marijuana (and all the ills that will come with that), and we'll still have the criminals dealing whatever remains illegal.
Marijuana only accounts for about 20% of what Americans spend on illegal recreational drugs. Legalizing cocaine and methamphetamine would have a much bigger impact on the criminals.
If that were the goal.