Cartels Marijuana Heroin - The legalization of marijuana in many US States is forcing Mexican drug merchants to turn to heroin and methamphetamine for profit.
According to The Washington Post, the amount of meth and heroin seized by border authorities has increased by more than three times in the past decade. At the same time, the amount of marijuana seized has reduced by more than 30%. For example, in Arizona, the Drug Enforcement Agency reports that heroin drug busts along the border has increased by about 300%.
Raul Benitez-Manaut, a drug control expert at the National Autonomous University Mexico explains that the legalization of marijuana in the US has given users access to genetically-improved high quality strains of the plant, forcing them to overlook the less potent "brick-packed" strains from across the border. "That's why the Mexican cartels are switching to heroin and meth," he explains.
But that is not all the story. Experts say the crackdown on opiate derivative drugs is also fuelling this market. Over the past decade, the use of opiate derivative drugs has increased steadily. These over-the-counter drugs, which are prescribed for chronic pain, have been linked with several health complications and even deaths - forcing the authorities to crackdown on them.
Now, reports indicate that people hooked on opiate derivative drugs are turning to cheap opium from Mexico. Officials say many of the people being treated with opium addiction today-including housewives and teenagers-are erstwhile law abiding citizens, who were compelled by their addiction to expensive opiate derivative pain killers to try out heroin.
DEA spokesman Lawrence Payne explains that the amount of heroin users in the country has increased by more than threefold. Experts say this is directly related to the large number of people who abuse prescription pain killers.
Unlike cocaine, which is expensive to produce, and marijuana, which is difficult to transport without being detected, heroin and meth are readily made in Mexico and smuggled across the border with far less trouble.
The cartels are reportedly also increasing their ability to produce higher quality 'white heroin' as opposed to the previous low-grade 'black heroin' they made in the past.
