The legalize Marijuana campaign in Arizona has taken a patriotic turn.

The Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol says legalizing the drug would mean Arizonans would be able to 'Buy American and Support Schools, Not Cartels.'

A billboard with the slogan will appear in the city of Tempe and a retired U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency agent who investigated Mexican drug cartels has backed the scheme.

The Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol says legalizing the drug would mean Arizonans would be able to 'Buy American and Support Schools, Not Cartels'

Michael Capasso, who retired in 2015 following more than three and half years as chief of the DEA Financial Crimes Unit said: 'I know from personal experience that the illegal status of marijuana in the United States helps to fuel demand for marijuana produced by drug cartels in Mexico.' Pictured: Two soldiers watch 134 tonnes of marijuana burning on October 20, 2010 in the border town of Tijuana, Mexico

During his tenure at the agency, Capasso spearheaded a task force comprised of Phoenix-area police officers targeting Mexican cartels trafficking drugs into the U.S. Pictured: Mexican soldiers pull up marijuana plants found amid a field of blue agave

Michael Capasso, who retired in 2015 following more than three and half years as chief of the DEA Financial Crimes Unit said: 'I know from personal experience that the illegal status of marijuana in the United States helps to fuel demand for marijuana produced by drug cartels in Mexico.'

During his tenure at the agency, Capasso spearheaded a task force comprised of Phoenix-area police officers targeting Mexican cartels trafficking drugs into the U.S.

He also directed operations in Sierra Vista, one of the DEA's front-line posts along the U.S.-Mexico border.

'If we truly hope to eliminate the criminal element associated with marijuana, the only solution is to make marijuana legal and tightly regulate its production and sale,' Capasso said.

'I am supporting the Arizona initiative to regulate marijuana like alcohol because it will make our communities safer. Marijuana should be sold by licensed businesses, not drug cartels.'

The campaign, which has not yet turned in the 150,642 signatures needed to qualify for the November ballot, announced the plans Monday.

The initiative would allow adults of 21 years of age and older to possess up to one ounce of marijuana and consume marijuana in private. Pictured: Manager at 3D Cannabis Center in Denver, makes labels in the grow room as he gets for the first of the year in 2013

Arizona could see as much as $113 million in new revenue for recreational use and imposed a 15 per cent levy on the drug. Pictured: Marijuana shop signs in Colorado

The billboard reads: 'If Arizona regulates marijuana,adults could buy American,' instead of buying marijuana that has been illegally smuggled across the Mexican border into Arizona.

It also points out taxes collected from marijuana sales would 'support schools, not cartels.'

According to the non-partisan group Tax Foundation, Arizona could see as much as $113 million in new revenue for recreational use and imposed a 15 per cent levy on the drug.

The initiative would allow adults of 21 years of age and older to possess up to one ounce of marijuana and consume marijuana in private.

It would also legalize the growing of up to six marijuana plants at home and would allow a limited number of licensed marijuana retail stores to sell marijuana to adults 21 years of age and older.

A Department of Marijuana Licenses and Control would also be established to oversee a 'tightly controlled system of licensed marijuana retail stores, licensed cultivation facilities, licensed product manufacturing facilities, and licensed testing facilities'

The department would include a law enforcement unit that will be responsible for enforcing regulations, conducting compliance checks, and investigating violations.

The campaign, which has not yet turned in the 150,642 signatures needed to qualify for the November ballot, announced the plans Monday. Rep. Ruben Gallego (right) speaks at a campaign event on June 20

While Mexico remains a major supplier of marijuana to the U.S, according to the LA Times, its market share is thought to have declined significantly.

Alejandro Hope, a security and drug analyst in Mexico City, told the site that Mexican marijuana now accounts for less than a third of the total consumed in the U.S.

But the drop in production is most likely down to the loosening of marijuana laws across the US.

And while for years the US and Mexican governments have looked at ways to reduce culitvation in the Central American country - including paying farmers to produce less-profitable legal crops - it has been the relaxed legal environment in the US that has achieved this.