Title: Reducing drug trafficking revenues and violence in Mexico
Description: U.S. demand for illicit drugs creates markets for Mexican drug trafficking organizations  (DTOs). This paper examines how marijuana legalization in California might influence DTO  revenues and the violence in Mexico, focusing on gross revenues from export and distribution  to wholesale markets near the southwestern U.S. border. The analysis described here is rooted  in an earlier RAND Corporation study on marijuana legalization (Kilmer, Caulkins, Pacula,  et al., 2010) and presents a method of estimating the revenues that international drug traffickers  derive from U.S. sales that is transparent and, hence, auditable and replicable. We believe  that this method can be iteratively improved by research over time, whereas existing methods  that rely heavily on classified information have not been subject to review and have not shown  much ongoing improvement.  Five technical appendixes include additional information about the weight of a marijuana  joint, THC content of sinsemilla and commercial-grade marijuana, marijuana prices, Mexican  DTO revenues from drugs other than marijuana, and the availability of Mexican marijuana  in the U.S.
Subjects: Violent crimes, Drug traffic, Finance, Drug legalization, Law and legislation, Marijuana, Prevention, Marijuana, law and legislation, Drug control, Mexico, social conditions
Places: California, Mexico