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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   32974 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of February 27, 2023

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I'm not as sure about this, legalizing probably means taxing and regulating which means the unregulated untaxxed product may be able to compete on cost while still providing more than enough income to support cartels and gangs. Further, we're already seeing cartel activity in completely legal products (like Mexican Avocados). Suggesting that cartels might not all dry up if they lost their primary revenue source.

Who says you have to neutralize the cartels entirely? Just neutralizing them enough that they can't shoot down military helicopters seems like a good place to start. Most of their revenue comes from drugs so any dent in that is a good step forward.

I'm not as sure about this, legalizing probably means taxing and regulating which means the unregulated untaxxed product may be able to compete on cost while still providing more than enough income to support cartels and gangs.

I know this is a foreign concept to most governments, but it is possible for them to regulate lightly enough and take a small enough cut that it isn't economical for those opposed to their power to compete with them.

I wouldn't think so, because the cartel still has the advantage of pre-existing and trustworthy production, distribution, and retail networks. Everyone else is going to be trying to start from zero. And if the cartel doesn't like the competition, it already has access to people willing to do violence on its behalf, and an institutional culture where such violence was routine and approved of. Legalization is not a panacea.

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