Mexican Cartels Are Abandoning The Smuggling Of Marijuana In Favor Of Heroin

Parker McMillan looks over products at MedMen in West Hollywood, Calif., on Jan. 1, 2018, when it became legal in to sell recreational marijuana. Laws allowing marijuana in states like Colorado, Washington and California are causing shifts in the Mexican underworld that have also led to increased violence as the cartels move away from its cash cow of marijuana to traffic more heroin and methamphetamines. (Photo: ROBERT HANASHIRO/USA TODAY)

USA Today: Mexican cartels pushing more heroin after U.S. states relax marijuana laws

CHIHUAHUA, Mexico — As more U.S. states legalize the use of marijuana, Mexico's violent drug cartels are turning to the basic law of supply and demand.

That means small farmers, or campesinos, in this border state's rugged Sierra Madre who long planted marijuana to be smuggled into the United States are switching to opium poppies, which bring a higher price. The opium gum harvested is processed into heroin to feed the ravaging U.S. opioid crisis.

“Marijuana isn’t as valuable, so they switched to a more profitable product,” said Javier Ávila, a Jesuit priest in this region rife with drug cartel activities.

Laws allowing marijuana in states like Colorado, Washington and California are causing shifts in the Mexican underworld that have also led to increased violence as the cartels move away from its cash cow of marijuana to traffic more heroin and methamphetamines.

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WNU editor: Mexico has a history of growing opium. But the plant with its distinctive flower is easy to spot, and the onus will be on Mexico's law enforcement to stop it.