Marijuana “smuggling has fallen 78% over just a five-year period”

As marijuana legalization efforts continue to be successful nationwide, less marijuana is being smuggled into the U.S. via the southern border.

The Cato Institute’s study looked at cases of marijuana seizures from Border Patrol to conduct a thorough analysis, Forbes reports.

“State-level marijuana legalization has significantly undercut marijuana smuggling,” said David Bier of Cato. “Based on Border Patrol seizures, smuggling has fallen 78 percent over just a five-year period. Because marijuana was the primary drug smuggled between ports of entry, where Border Patrol surveils, the value of the agency’s seizures overall — on a per-agent basis — has declined 70 percent.”

Bier also stated, “Given these trends, a border wall or more Border Patrol agents to stop drugs between ports of entry makes little sense. State marijuana legalization starting in 2014 did more to reduce marijuana smuggling than the doubling of Border Patrol agents or the construction of hundreds of miles of border fencing did from 2003 to 2009.”