A study released Wednesday by a respected Mexican think tank concludes that if current ballot measures in certain American states to legalize the recreational use of marijuana pass, it could cut the earnings of Mexican drug cartels by as much as 30 percent.

 The study by the Mexican Competitiveness Institute, “If Our Neighbors Legalize,” argues that legalization north of the border would allow more production of marijuana in the domestic US, imposing competition on the marijuana grown and distributed by the cartels.

The draconian prohibitionist policies in the US have contributed to record drug profits on the part of the cartels, which benefit from limited competition in the black market.

Furthermore, the militaristic approach the US has historically taken towards the drug war throughout Central America has boosted the ferocity of the drug cartels, who have built up virtual armies in various territories in Mexico in order to police their own market and battle the prohibitionist state.