California Marijuana Vote, Prop 19, Will Increase Organized Crime If Passed

Organized crime and marijuana go hand-in-hand as much as alcohol and organized crime did in the 1930s. Prohibition was seen by some as the problem, with some people thinking (erroneously) that making alcohol legal would get rid of organized crime. Guess what? Organized crime is a $1 trillion dollar drain on the U.S. budget right now. How's that for "decreasing it?"

Mexico's Fox opposes Proposition 19, his foreign minister supports it

Legalizing marijuana in California isn't going to stop organized crime or drug trafficking, as some like Mexico's Jorge Castaneda proposes.

According to the New York Times, Castaneda insinuated that, "Just as legalizing alcohol helped dismantle organized crime in the United States in the 1930s, legalizing marijuana could devastate major drug trafficking organizations.

According to the FBI, organized crime has grown--not decreased--since the '30s legalization of alcohol.

If anyone had bothered to ask law enforcement what they thought back then they would hear the same thing said now: legalizing a drug will not make the problems associated with it go away. And it won't make organized crime disappear either.

Just the opposite, instead, as legalization causes more people to want to use something they previously considered taboo legally. It is just a part of human nature: they have to check it out and see what the fuss was about.

More importantly, men who make money corruptly and unlawfully don't suddenly get forced into honest enterprises due to it becoming legal. It doesn't work that way. Organized crime members own liquor stores, bars and still do their shady dealings in those businesses as well.

Legalizing alcohol didn't reduce organized crime

The FBI will tell you that when the '30s gave way to the '40s years ago, organized crime did not diminish. It grew. Major players like Bugsy Seigel came, exiting in the '50s to new gangsters like Carmine Galante and Vito Genovese. These weren't your nice men who played well with others either.

And just because alcohol was legalized does not mean enterprises involved in it later were run legally. The government doesn't always get a piece of that tax pie they think they will. That is why there is the governmental division of the state revenue that deals with investigation of liquor, folks.

O.C. still going strong in '50s, '60s, '70s, '80s, '90s...

Organized criminal Genovese came along in the '50s, so alcohol didn't shut down OC then, he was followed in the '60s by John Roselli and OC guys in the '70s included Carlo Gambino, Carmine John Perisco, Jr., Anthony Spilotro and UNIRAC.

UNIRAC was an organization dismantled, in part, by the efforts of Louis Freeh (not due to the legalization of alcohol). Freeh worked undercover against OC before he went on to become an FBI Director who enjoyed great respect. So, you see, OC has never been dismantled entirely or "reduced" as Jorge in Mexico alludes.

And for those who still harbor the disillusion that organized crime was reduced due to the legalization of alcohol, it might interest you to know that the '80s and '90s proved how untrue that assumption was. That period giving us no less than 16 major organized crime players and cases that had to be contended with judicially during those two decades alone. An increase for sure.

Organized crime not going away due to legalization of marjiuana

And organized crime has not gone away since, milking as much as a trillion out of our taxpaying budget even now in 2010.

Legalizing marijuana isn't going to reduce law enforcement costs, and it certainly won't reduce the cost to society. Here's a case in point:

I don't care what people say about it having medicinal benefits. Doctors tout the benefits of a glass of wine for dinner but who among us thinks it has helped Lindsay Lohan to have access to alcohol so freely?

Legalizing something and making it not harmful are two totally different things. Legalizing something and enjoying a profit from it are two different things too. California's Proposition 19 is alleged to be supported by some due to its potential of bringing $1.4 billion in tax revenue to the state, removing it from organized crime hands.

Anyone who has studied organized crime knows that they will get their finger in that pie if it means bribing corrupt officials at a lower level.

Addicts of Marijuana to cost California for treatment later

Additionally, the cost to the state of California to treat and deal with addicts due to the legalization of the drug (just like Lindsay Lohan and her tickets and treatments due to alcohol) will far exceed any revenues derived from it. Taxpayers will just be footing the bill for the problems it causes.

And the false premise that law enforcement resources will be diverted to more pressing needs, like heavy drug users, since it will be legalized is the biggest fallacy. Instead, patrol officers will still deal with marijuana doped up individuals just like they still deal with DUI individuals like Lindsay Lohan on the roads and streets.

People under the influence of alcohol and drugs don't suddenly handle themselves better because their addiction of choice becomes legal. Society needs to realize that. California should vote 'No' for Proposition 19 if they really want to reduce organized crime and keep their streets safer. Legalizing marijuana isn't the way to do that. It really is a problem drug just like alcohol.

Resources: "Mexico closely watches Calif. marijuana vote," NYT.com; FBI.gov and organized crime stats, case files and reports