Last week the Arkansas State Police reported that troopers recently seized nearly 200 pounds of illegal marijuana over the course of multiple traffic stops.
According to an official press release, the suspects apprehended and charged with drug possession were from Texas, Nevada, and Florida.
Stories like this one serve as a reminder that marijuana’s legalization in other states has actually fueled the black market and the drug cartels rather than weakening them.
For example, California’s Unified Cannabis Enforcement Taskforce seized nearly $162 million worth of illegal marijuana during the first half of 2023.
Oregon has been inundated by industrial scale marijuana cultivation sites operated illegally by organized crime and drug cartels. Some of these marijuana operations are tied to labor trafficking and violent crime.
If Arkansas had passed marijuana amendment Issue 4 in 2022, our marijuana laws arguably would be more lax than many states’. Fortunately, voters rejected that measure at the ballot box.
Contrary to popular belief, legalization does not decrease drug-related crime, and it does not alleviate drug abuse. If anything, it seems to make these problems worse.
Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.