The War on Drugs Promotes Crime
There is no better way to support and enrich organized crime than the war on drugs. As the late capitalist, Charlie Munger, said "Show me the incentive, and I’ll show you the outcome." The incentive of profit overwhelms the deterrance of law enforcement.
Everything in this article is well known to establishment politicians. Drug use as been increasing throughout the time of the war on drugs. It is common knowledge that illegal drugs have long been widely available. In terms of prevention, the war on drugs has been a dismal failure. The only reason it persists is that it suits political interests operating behind the scenes.
The war on drugs is not about prevention — the war on drugs is designed to promote organized crime, suppress minorities and the lower economic class, maintain imperial campaigns in foreign countries, and enrich financial interests.
The Irony of PoliticsWhen people have strong negative feelings on some issue they often demand laws to ban or prohibit something. In the case of the war on drugs, the irony is the prohibition does more to promote drug use than any advertizing campaign could achieve. The war on drugs has actually increased drug use to the point where the U.S. is the greatest per-capita user of illegal drugs in the world and also has the highest death rate from drug abuse in the world. Drug abuse is increasing even in Texas prisons, starkly demonstrating the ironic results of drug prohibition. The profits from illegal drug sales incentivize organized crime to promote illegal drugs, control sales territory, and create distribution networks. Opposite to preventing drug use, the war on drugs promotes addiction, gang violence, and social decay.
The country of Portugal presents a direct contrast. Drugs were decriminalized in 2001 and since then Portugal has experienced a significant reduction in problems related to drug use. Portugal removed the incentives for organized crime to promote and distribute drugs with its decriminalization and medical treatment policy.
Marijuana is Key to Drug Cartel Profits
Marijuana use is common and arguably less harmful than either tobacco or alcohol. But it is a “cash cow” for drug cartels and organized crime which profit from the war on drugs. As explained in this paper from Science Direct:
Prohibition policies, which target suppliers or consumers of illegal cannabis, are not effective at controlling demand. With 192 million users, cannabis is the most popular illegal recreational drug on earth. It accounts for half of global drug seizures and represents a black market worth 142 billion dollars. Prohibition has failed to curb consumption and has fueled criminal activities. Drug dealing is the first source of revenue for organized crime and destabilizes the political economy of drug-producing countries while generating criminality in drug-consuming ones.
Texas relaxed legal restrictions on hemp in 2019. As a result, there has been very little change in crime or social problems.
Legalizing marijuana does not lead to increased crime or social ills. The lesson from California, Colorado, and other states is that legalization of marijuana has little effect on teenage use, somewhat increases adult use, somewhat decreases use of other drugs, somewhat reduces opioid overdoses, and does not increase crime or behavioral problems.
It should be no surprise that legalization of marijuana has very limited effects on social behavior. Marijuana use has become normalized and common over the course of the war on drugs. Decriminalizing or making it legal will only reduce the number of people charged with possession crimes and incarcerated for marijuana charges. A study by the Cato Institute supports the expectation that marijuana legalization will make little difference in crime rates, traffic injuries, behavioral problems, or even in marijuana use. But, if marijuana is taxed, state tax revenue can be expected to increase. There is a similar assessment by NORML, a legalization advocacy group.
In order to fight against drug cartels and organized crime we must change the ground from which they grow. The evidence shows that decriminilazation or legalization significantly reduces drug cartel revenues. We must remove the profit from illegal drugs and the economic appeal of the drug cartels. The decriminalization or legalization of marijuana in several U.S. states has reduced drug cartel revenue and profits significantly.
Suppression of Minorities
When members of a minority or lower class embrace marijuana use, the ruling class moves to outlaw marijuana as a form of suppression and control. A Brief Global History of the War on Cannabis Ryan Stoa, MIT Press
Marijuana prohibition in the U.S. has its origins in prejudice against Mexican immigrants. African Americans are arrested for marijuana offenses at over three times the rate of Caucasian Americans. Texas has a higher incarceration rate then the U.S. average and Blacks and Latinos receive disproportionately more jail sentences than whites. Black Texans specifically are 2.33 times more likely to be arrested for marijuana than their white counterparts, but there are tremendous geographic fluctuations, with a rate as high as 34.1 times more likely in some counties.
Promotion of Armed Violence
Because they operate outside the law, drug cartels must rely on violence to protect their sources, territories, and dealer networks. The war on drugs promotes a culture of armed violence by assuring a steady source of revenue and profits to drug cartels. The drug cartels often purchase weapons from gun dealers in Texas. It even appears that providing arms to drug cartels is an industrial process in Texas and Arizona.
There are only two gun stores operating in Mexico, and 9,970 in the US states along the border. Seventy percent of the firearms found at crime scenes in Mexico originated in the United States, and at least two hundred thousand firearms are smuggled across the border (from north to south) each year (p.8). We are used to hearing about the entanglement of the two nations through the supply-and-demand dynamics of the narcotics economy, or through the movement of migrants across the “southern border.” Ieva Jusionyte reminds us that this line is also a "northern border" through which another commodity—not drugs but guns—moves, with dramatic physical and social consequences.
The requirements to purchase a gun in Texas are loose and it is fairly simple to acquire assault weapons for the drug cartels in Texas.
Many of the immigrants seeking entry into the United States are fleeing the gun violence that has become so prevelant in Mexico and Central America.
Imperial Campaigns in Foreign Countries
It is arguable that opium produced in Afghanistan, with U.S. military protection, had an important role in the opioid crisis. In 2001, opium production declined by 90% to 8,000 hectares. During the U.S. occupation from 2002 to 2022 opium production grew to exceed 230,000 hectares, but then fell by 95% in 2023 after the Taliban came back into power. Afghanistan opium survey 2023, UNODC.
The financial support of drug cartels and supply of weapons to drug cartels is a strategy to undermine and overthrow popular governments in Central and South America. The U.S. has actually trained drug cartel operatives in Mexico.
From the Iran-Contra scandal of the Reagan administration in which illegal drug profits funded death squads, to the 2009 coup in Honduras which placed drug kingpin Juan Orlando Hernández in power and Donald Trump’s pardon of the same Juan Orlando Hernández after he was convicted for importing cocaine into the U.S., foreign policy regarding Central and South America has been intertwined with drug cartels. Donald Trump has pardoned other drug cartel principals as well. Similarly, in Ecuador the society deteriorated after former president Rafael Correa fled prosecution and drug cartels moved in. Now Ecuador President Daniel Noboa is linked to drug cartels and is also supported by U.S. imperialism.
With "Plan Columbia" as an important milestone, there is a long history of U.S. involvement and drug cartel activity in Columbia. The refinement of coco leaves into cocaine and transport to the U.S. for sale is a large industry and connected across countries by drug cartels.
The history of CIA involvement in the international drug trade is extensive. There are volumes of evidence to show it is an ongoing policy.
Enrichment of Financial Interests
The most notorious example of financial institutions profiting from illegal drug sales and money laundering is the 2008 prosecution of Wachovia Bank. The penalty for the bank included a $50 million civil money fine and $110 million in forfeiture to the United States, representing the laundered drug proceeds.
The illicit drug trade into the United States is a massive and complex challenge, with annual revenue estimates ranging from $426 billion to $652 billion. Most of this money is transferred through bank accounts. The Federal Reserve indicates that in 2024 there was $55.4 billion of cash currency in circulation in the U.S., which would be only about 10% of the value of the illegal drug trade. The obvious inference is that the financial industry provides many services to the drug cartels.
Conclusion
In terms of prevention of drug abuse the war on drugs has been a dismal failure. On the contrary, the war on drugs has fostered the growth of organized crime and drug cartels. Drug abuse has increased under the war on drugs as has the rate of deaths due to drug overdose. The war on drugs prohibition will never work because it does nothing to reduce demand while it creates many incentives for organized crime to profit from the prohibited drugs. Countries that have decriminalized drugs and adopted a medical treatment policy are the only ones that have had success in reducing the problems associated with drug use.
The more votes for Kevin McCormick for Lieutenant Governor in the November 2026 election, the more likely it becomes that the Texas state government will raise the priority of serving the public. Vote Kevin McCormick for Texas Lieutenant Governor.
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