Decline In Cannabis Smuggling From Mexico Demonstrates Legalization’s Success In U.S.

I first started consuming cannabis back in 1993. It was a simpler time in many ways, especially when it came to acquiring cannabis. These days where I live in the United States (Oregon) cannabis dispensaries are scattered all over every major city and all it takes is cash and an ID showing that you are of legal age and you can buy any number of cannabis products that your heart desires.

It wasn’t that way back in 1993. Not even close. Oregon, as I am always proud to point out, was the first state to decriminalize personal possession of cannabis in the entire United States back in the early 1970s. However, that policy was only helpful if you got caught with cannabis – it didn’t help address how to obtain cannabis.

Back when I first started consuming cannabis it was fairly hard to find, at least consistently, even here in Oregon. To put the era into perspective, this was three years prior to California legalizing cannabis for medical use, and five years prior to Oregon doing so. It was over 20 years before cannabis became legal for adult use in Oregon. In the early 1990s, a lot of what was available in my area originated from Mexico.

The cannabis from Mexico, almost always in brick form, was notoriously terrible and had more seeds and stems in it than you could ever imagine. It had many nicknames: bammer, brickweed, budget, and ‘Charlie Brown’ to name a handful. Regardless of what people called it, it was never their first choice, but we made it work because we had to.

Cannabis from Mexico was much easier to find compared to higher-quality, homegrown cannabis at the time, which was before my area started to get flooded with much better cannabis from Canada. Cannabis from Mexico was also cheap. Unbelievably cheap, which was its main selling point other than the fact that it was available.

Whereas 3.5 grams of quality cannabis generally cost $50 at the time, I was able to get a quarter pound of Mexican brickweed for $40. As I often tell people now while reflecting back on those days, you made the most of what you could get.

Zoom back to the present day, and I can’t even find brickweed. Even if I asked every person I knew in Oregon, I doubt I would be able to find any of it at all. It’s not exactly rocket science as to determining why that is. Legal cannabis is easy to acquire in Oregon, which is true of a growing list of states in the U.S.

With that in mind, it’s not exactly a coincidence that the amount of cannabis being smuggled from Mexico into the United States is reducing with every passing year. It’s a mathematical fact that consumer demand for cannabis is shifting toward a regulated market in the U.S. and away from the unregulated market. Below is what the DEA had to say about cannabis and Mexico in its recent budget document:

Mexico remains the most significant foreign source for marijuana in the United States; however, in U.S. markets, Mexican marijuana has largely been supplanted by domestic produced marijuana. Marijuana remains illegal under Federal law and is the most commonly used illicit drug in the United States. The national landscape continues to evolve as states enact voter referenda and legislation regarding the possession, use, and cultivation of marijuana and its associated products.

In other words, cannabis reform in the United States has resulted in exponential growth in domestic cannabis production and that supply continues to supplant the supply of unregulated cannabis from Mexico. As cannabis reform continues to spread, “the national landscape continues to evolve” as the DEA said, and that means that the trend we have seen in recent years will continue. That is good news for job seekers, public coffers, and public safety-related resources.

The fact of the matter is that regulation works. That is not to say that current regulations in the United States, or anywhere else for that matter, are perfect because they are not. However, sensible legalization and regulation are better than prohibition, and a legalized industry benefits all of society whereas letting cartels control the unregulated cannabis industry only benefits the cartels.

I can’t imagine a day when the DEA will flat out say that legalization works. I doubt it will ever happen. The DEA and other entities like it around the globe will cling to prohibition talking points until the bitter end. With that being said, you have to assume that the DEA reps responsible for the budget document were squirming when they came up with the wording found earlier in this article since there is no way to sugarcoat the fact that prohibitionists are losing, and thankfully, compassion and sensible public policy are winning.