Legalizing Marijuana in California Will Not Dramatically Reduce Mexican Drug Trafficking Revenues

Rand Corporation
Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Legalizing marijuana in California will not dramatically reduce the drug revenues collected by Mexican drug trafficking organizations from sales to the United States, according to a new RAND Corporation study. The study calculates that Mexican drug trafficking organizations generate only $1 billion to $2 billion annually from exporting marijuana to the United States and selling it to wholesalers, far below existing estimates by the government and other groups.