Mexico and the U.S. are tightly entwined economically — and this is as true of the illegal economy as the legal one. If popular ballot measures to legalize marijuana in Colorado, Washington and Oregon pass on November 6, a respected Mexican think tank says that it will hit the cartels where it hurts: In the pocketbook, to the tune of several billion dollars. While tough police and military operations on both sides of the border have largely failed to slow the cartels, legalization would be “the biggest structural shock suffered by drug trafficking in Mexico since the massive arrival of cocaine in the late eighties,” the researchers wrote.

via Why Mexico Is Rooting for U.S. Pot Legalization – Tim Fernholz – The Atlantic.