Marijuana's legalization fuels black market in other states
Marijuana smugglers are growing and shipping vast quantities of illicit cannabis across the USA.
They’re mailing it, driving it and, in at least one case, flying it around in skydiving planes. They’re hiding it in truck beds and trunks and vacuum-sealing it to hide the smell as they pass police officers patrolling the interstates.
Many are starting in states where growing marijuana is legal, such as Colorado, and sending the drug elsewhere.
In June, Colorado prosecutors said they busted a 74-person operation producing 100 pounds of marijuana per month — enough to generate $200,000 monthly, tax free
, for more than four years.
olice seized two tons of cannabis from dozens of homes and warehouses in the Denver metro area. Tangled up in the scheme were fathers and sons and several former professional football players.
“Those of us in law enforcement kept saying, '(Legalization) will not stop crime. You’re just making it easier for people who want to make money. What we’ve done is give them cover,' ” Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman said.
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Legalization "has provided an effective means to launder cannabis products and proceeds, where in essence, actors can exploit legal mechanisms to obscure products’ origin and conceal true profits, thereby blurring the boundaries of the legal market and complicating enforcement efforts,” the Oregon report concluded. “The illicit exportation of cannabis must be stemmed as it undermines the spirit of the law and the integrity of the legal market.”
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Instead, criminal organizations are setting up operations in Colorado and buying houses where they can grow marijuana, she said. Then, once the crops are harvested, they ship the drug elsewhere.
Busting those organizations now that marijuana is legal takes a lot more work than it did before 2012 when anyone caught with any amount of cannabis was breaking the law.
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