Just like the "War on Drugs" started in the Nixon-era after scheduling marijuana on the same level as heroin, the most severe (Schedule 1, where you can't even do medical research with it, basically), one step higher than methamphetamine, only led to the rise of massive drug cartels fueling this wealthy country's appetite for illegal drugs.

As a result, there was horrific instability and violence in Central and South America, not to mention in the US as people born into very shitty socioeconomic situations and little hope of financial access to college found the risk of even lower-level drug dealing worth the potential reward of an income they likely couldn't get being born into poverty right here in the US.