Mexican drug cartels adapting to legalisation of marijuana in U.S.

The growing legalisation of cannabis in the United States is forcing Mexico’s drug cartels to rethink their illicit business model. A total of 23 U.S. states have legalised the drug for medical use, and opinion polls show that a slim majority of Americans favour legalisation. Javier Oliva, a security expert at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, said the number of opium poppy fields has surged by 300% in the last five years in Mexico’s southwestern state of Guerrero.

The criminals have obviously seen an improvement in [heroin] cultivation and they also pay attention to the demand factor.

Javier Oliva, security expert at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, on marijuana legalization in the United States

Poppy fields outnumber marijuana plantations by three to one, according to Adolfo Dominguez, a military commander in Durango. And heroin consumption in the U.S. has surged due to tighter controls of prescription opioid drugs, said Alejandro Mohar, a member of the International Narcotics Control Board. Speaking at a presentation of a report by the UN’s International Narcotics Control Board, a United Nations agency, Oliva said drug cartels would also likely “increase their exports to Europe”.

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