"The Mexican drug cartels are turning their attention to heroin to make up for the lost revenue. "
That sounds scary (and is right out of the war on drugs playbook) but keep in mind the cannabis market is and always has been far far larger than the heroin market. Cannabis is (was?) one of the single largest sources of income for cartels, and you can’t just ‘make up for it’ by shipping more heroin, because the number of people who want to use heroin hasn’t (and won’t) magically increase just because you’ve decided to ship more of it. All you’ll really see is a decrease in the price of heroin, which means heroin users won’t need to commit as much ancillary crime to support their habits. ie less shoplifting and other petty theft. And more importantly, the cartels will have less money and hence less ability to distort the Mexican economy and corrupt the Mexican political system.
ie this is a net good.
