Hailey Richman

Health 1050 - Professor Lawanda Esquibel

December 3, 2023
International Connections Paper #2

Marijuana fueled the cartel before narcotics did so when the world started to “normalize”

marijuana and cannabis, the cartel lost power. Cannabis cultivation started in the 1980-1990's

and has grown exponentially over the past 25 years. At first, they were able to intercept small

amounts of cannabis coming in from major ports and airports but then they started to notice that

there were more and more cultivation sites across the globe that were indoor and outdoor. It is

different from every other drug production; coca bush and opium poppies have to be planted

(and are planted) in specific regions of the world but cannabis cultivation is found world-wide

(Decorte et al. 1). The use and demand of cannabis is skyrocketing. Around the world, there are

between 143 and 300 million users of cannabis in 2007 (which is 3.3% - 4.4% of the adult

population). North America, Western Europe, and Oceania are the most highly consumed areas

by cannabis. Recently, there has been a modern spread of recreational use of marijuana/cannabis,

meaning that in the 1960-1970's, it was more stereotypical to be more of a "hippie" to use this

drug, but now it is more normalized in more industrial countries - it is comparable to alcohol in

the article “The globalization of (domestic) cannabis cultivation”. With this new widespread use

and demand that is now being grown locally all over the world, cartels are losing their power

over being the main source of marijuana. This has made the cartel switch from marijuana to

harder drugs, like heroin and meth. “Made-in-the-USA marijuana is quickly displacing the

cheap, seedy, hard-packed version harvested by the bushel in Mexico’s Sierra Madre mountains.

That has prompted Mexican drug farmers to plant more opium poppies, and the sticky brown and

black “tar” heroin they produce is channeled by traffickers into the U.S. communities hit hardest

by prescription painkiller abuse, offering addicts a $10 alternative to $80-a-pill oxycodone.”

(Miroff 2015). The border patrol had also noticed a 37 percent drop in the cannabis that has been
Hailey Richman
Health 1050 - Professor Lawanda Esquibel
December 3, 2023
siezed at the Mexico border, because it is no longer a priority anymore, with no demand.

Ultimately, the loss of demand came from at-home cultivators all around the world and suddenly

people getting more addicted to harder drugs, because that is what the cartels new priority is.

With that being said, the loss of power was temporary for the cartel. They have found a different

way to gain power, and ultimately still remain in control of the drug world through heroin and

meth.
Hailey Richman
Health 1050 - Professor Lawanda Esquibel
December 3, 2023
Works Cited

Decorte, Tom, et al. “The Globalization of (Domestic) Cannabis Cultivation.” World Wide Weed,

2011, \https://www.ararteko.eus/sites/default/files/2021-12/0_2563_1.pdf

Miroff, Nick. “Losing Marijuana Business, Mexican Cartels Push Herion and Meth.” The

Washington Post, 11 Jan. 2015,

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/losing-marijuana-business-

mexican-cartels-push-heroin-and-meth/2015/01/11/91fe44ce-8532-11e4-abcf-

5a3d7b3b20b8_story.html