Again, cartels make their money from drugs and defend their business with deadly force or intimidation. Legalizing drugs takes out their main source of revenue and primary reason to commit violent acts.

I agree with the policy/politics behind your statement, but there's a reason why I never mentioned drugs.

The cartels are ubiquitous throughout Mexican society now and anyone who thinks legalizing drugs would eliminate them, or make them significantly less powerful, is mistaken.

But that's a topic that is worthy of much longer and nuanced reply, so I'll just leave you with this:

The majority of those kidnappings were/are related to the cartels rackets of human smuggling and trafficking.