TOUGHER LAWS, NOT LEGALIZATION OF MARIJUANA, NEEDED TO CURB CARTELS

For decades, drug cartels in Mexico have exploited their country's
inability to enforce the rule of law.

These drug-trafficking organizations (DTOs) have expanded the scope of
their criminal operations in Mexico and throughout the world,
generating billions in revenue not only from drug trafficking and
sales, but also from a wide variety of other criminal activities.

Several members of the El Paso City Council and others have called for
the legalization of marijuana, asserting that the regulation and
taxation of the drug would deliver a blow to Mexico's drug cartels and
help reduce the violence that has ravaged Juarez.

It is understandable why this argument has gained momentum. After two
years of gruesome violence, we are all searching for any solution that
could bring this conflict to an end.

Unfortunately, the notion that legalizing marijuana in the U.S. would
"take away" 50 to 70 percent of the drug cartels' revenue, and
diminish their ability to wage violence, is vastly
overestimated.

Legalizing marijuana in the U.S. will not have a significant impact on
the cartels' ability, desire, and motivation to perpetuate their
brutal acts of narco-terrorism and other organized criminal activity.

First, even if America were to legalize marijuana, the federal and
state taxes and purity regulations imposed would still provide cartels
the opportunity to smuggle and sell cheaper marijuana to U.S.
consumers at a lucrative profit. It is likely that taxes on marijuana
would exceed the high taxes imposed on cigarettes in order to generate
revenue and to discourage its use.

Even cigarette smuggling remains a multi-billion-dollar enterprise
worldwide. A 2009 report by the International Consortium of
Journalists found that terrorist organizations such as al-Qaida and
Hezbollah have generated significant revenues from cigarette smuggling
to fund terrorist activities around the world.

Secondly, drug cartels have a profitable criminal portfolio that goes
far beyond marijuana. In addition to these revenues and those from
other drugs, cartels profit from arms trafficking, human trafficking,
smuggling, counterfeiting, electronic fraud, piracy, kidnapping,
extortion, and others.

According to Edgardo Buscaglia, a world-renown expert on organized
crime, Mexican cartels profit from 22 different types of crimes. In a
recent interview, Buscaglia stated that drug trafficking is generating
less than 50 percent of the cartels' total annual gross income.

This somber reality underscores why the threat posed by Mexico's
cartels extends far beyond the revenues generated from marijuana.

In the past two years, cartels have stolen over $1 billion worth of
oil alone from Mexico's pipelines.

In addition, while the U.S. is the largest consumer of drugs from
Mexico's cartels, it isn't the only one, and these DTOs are generating
substantial profits from global markets.

For instance, as drug cartels experienced significant revenue declines
from U.S. cocaine sales due to President Calderon's efforts to combat
organized crime, they have exported greater quantities of cocaine to
Europe at a higher profit.

According to a recent AP report, the global market for illicit drugs
exceeds a staggering $320 billion annually. Compare that to the
estimated $18 billion to $39 billion in drug revenues from the U.S.
market.

Mexico's DTOs have demonstrated a stubborn ability to adapt to
changing market conditions, and they are now a major supplier of
cocaine to Australia, Asia, and the Middle East.

Those who suggest that 50 percent of the cartels' revenues would be
taken away simply by legalizing marijuana aren't looking at the whole
picture. Legalizing marijuana in the U.S. will have no impact on the
cartels' ability to reap billions from the continued sale of marijuana
in a black market, nor will it diminish their ability to pursue
profits from other organized criminal activity and from the
exportation of drugs to other markets.

Mexico's difficulties in enforcing the rule of law underscore the need
to strengthen its democratic institutions.

Vincent Perez is Press Secretary for U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes.