Flying Pot Sacks - Why a Wall Won’t Stop Drug Trafficking
Did you know that one of the reasons why the “US Border Wall” exists is to “reduce the flow of drugs from Mexico”? The idea goes as follows: “By limiting the terrestrial access to the United States, drug cartels will have fewer options in transporting drugs to the north…seeing that there is a physical barrier impeding them from doing so.”
In theory, it sounds like a logical plan. Reduce the capabilities of transport and supply would be reduced! The only problem with this logic is that it doesn’t work. A recent story in the media captures the “why it doesn’t work” with precision.
Flying Pot Sacks
There is one thing that the US government, or any government for that matter doesn’t realize about the illegal drug market; “Drug Dealers are Creative”. If you limit one way for a drug dealer to traffic drugs, they will find a new way to get the drugs there.
From building homemade submarines, using drones, hiding drugs in legal shipments to shooting them over the wall with air cannons and trebuchets, the drug smuggler will always find a way to move drugs.
Arizona recently had an incident where roughly $48,000 USD worth of weed was shot over the wall. Officials say that while the actual amount of drugs is insignificant, if one of those sacks were to hit a civilian or a business…it could cause some serious damage.
This happened right after Trump went to visit the wall in Arizona and concluded that his plan to build a wall needs to continue. It’s kind of ironic when you come to think that the moment the president is like “we’ll build the wall!” a few Mexicans who jimmy-rigged an air-cannon for under a $100 circumvented the security protocols in less than 24 hours afterwards.
That by itself should be enough evidence to suggest that building a wall will not reduce the flow of drugs from the south to the north.
Drug Seizures Have Fallen Over the Years
Cannabis Seizures in particular have seen a decrease in activity over the border. This was “Pre-Trump” and has nothing to do with drug enforcement. Rather, if you look at the statistics…the decline of cannabis trafficking can be directly related to the growth of the legal cannabis industry.
- Mexican Cartels are finding a smaller market interested in smoking Brick Weed
- The US cannabis industry made access to cannabis a lot simpler, incentivizing citizens to purchase legally over illegally
- Reduced Demand equates to a Reduced Supply and by Consequence, a reduction in Seizures.
In fact, the price per kilo in Mexico has dropped from roughly $95 USD per kilo to a little under $35/kilo. As you can see, this reduction is quite significant and has forced many cannabis farmers to switch crops to Poppies and other drugs.
The idea that a wall had any impact on the distribution of drugs is quite ludicrous. The Wall doesn’t stop illegal immigrants from crossing over the US just as it doesn’t stop the flow of drugs either. All it does is cost a lot to maintain.
Why Spending More on the Wall will do Next to Nothing
Trump wants to dump a shit load of money into the wall. It makes absolutely no strategic sense to do so other than “delivering on what he promised on the campaign trail”. However, when it comes to actually making the US safer and more “drug free”, the wall will do nothing.
Instead, taking the $30+ billion dollars it would take to complete that gargantuan project, you could work on establishing a national cannabis industry, completely eradicating the demand for “Southern Cannabis”.
Additionally, instead of having to pay yearly to maintain the wall, a legal framework would actually generate new revenue, meaning that it would turn profit in a few years. We can already see this happening in states such as Colorado and Washington.
Furthermore, the money generated from the legal sales could be used to help lift up poorer communities who actually have a drug problem. Creating work opportunities, community projects, education, nutrition and health care within those communities would have a much more significant impact on the drug use within the community than hoping bricks would keep drugs away from them.
The Wall is a circle jerk. It’s a fantastical and irrational idea being pushed on the American Taxpayer with little to no evidence of it ever working. I hope that the flying pot sack helped depict just how useless a wall would really be.
I know, some people are isolationists at heart, and it’s probably one of the main reason there is any support for the wall in the first place. But pleas people, just look at the evidence…look at the logistics and notice that spending your money on building a wall aimed at reducing drugs…is nothing more than a pipe dream.
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