Posted on 04/25/2016 5:05:45 AM PDT by rktman
Three marijuana growing operations have been discovered near the houses where a family of 8 was murdered “execution style” in rural Ohio.
While the drug trafficking has not been publicly singled out as a motive by authorities nor have they publicly mentioned cartels or organized crime, investigators have called the murders a “complex operation”.
“This was a pre-planned execution of eight individuals, it was a sophisticated operation,” said Ohio Attorney General Mike Devine in a televised interview aired by Fox News. “Those who carried it out did everything they could to hinder the investigation and their prosecution.”
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
Since March 2016.
From posting history, is pro-marijuana (posting misleading pro-drug propaganda statistics without citing sources), pro-"guaranteed income".
Agreed. And so was my statement.
When I was in my 20s, I knew people who were fairly normal and who had this idea that they could get rich growing pot. The idea of growing and selling pot was (and remains) so non-controversial (at least in my area) that some otherwise normal middle class kids thought of it as a potential career path. I know a couple who did it for a short time. One stopped when three people showed up at his hidden growing area (pretty small) with guns and told him that if they caught him back there, they would kill him.
What’s the point? That drug trade is a deadly business no matter how much our culture tries to mainstream it with cute TV shows about middle class moms dealing drugs and other sympathetic portrayals of pot dealers. It can get you killed real fast. Or if not killed, put in jail for a long time.
I heard that traffic accidents and deaths were up. DWI.
After some more in-depth searching, it turns out that it depends on who you ask and who you believe.
There are reports showing that crime is down. These tend to come from marijuana legalization advocates some of whom probably have a financial interest in the drug staying legal.
There are reports showing that crime is way up. These tend to come from federal agencies whose budgets are heavily dependent on the needs for an army of federal thugs employed to keep the failed social program called “the war on drugs” going.
I guess maybe it would be better if we took the 13,000 people who now have jobs in the marijuana industry in Colorado and spent our tax dollars locking them up in prison. I guess it might be better if we continue the policy of having a bloated federal police state battle well-funded Mexican drug cartels. That’s been working so well.
It’s not hard to find articles arguing that the crime rate in Colorado has gone up, but none of them cite any increase in violent crime.
If you can find any articles that cite an increase in murders — or any murders — related to marijuana, please post them.
There are many of us who believe that the “war on drugs” has lead to an explosion in federal government power and an erosion of Constitutional rights.
I can’t speak for anyone else, but I’m not “pro-drug.” I think that the evidence is that marijuana prohibition has cost us way more than it’s worth. That’s not a general attack on all drug laws, just the way that we handle weed, specifically.
Legal pot would be worthless and pointless for cartel involvement. It’s a plant that is supposed to cost a fraction of basil on the open market. Anyone can grow enough for themselves and friends for pennies. If the threat of SWAT teams was removed from growers, pot would be WORTHLESS and less attractive to cartels than the basil business.
““Waste management” nearly nation wide, trucking, gambling,alcohol, etc.”
You can say that about ANY business where guaranteed big money and/or contracts are involved. Criminals will attempt to get in to threaten or blackmail competition. The difference with prohibition is that the government CREATES the black market by guaranteeing HUGE profit through selective enforcement AND pushing the industry underground.
A trucking company owner can go to the police and report when he is being threatened or when his competitors are doing something illegal. An illegal pot farmer cannot get help from police and all disputes in the pot industry MUST be settled with bullets.
“Prescription drugs are legal, so why are they sold illegally?”
Because of government regulation prohibiting some people from buying them. If anyone was allowed to buy safe/clean/cheap drugs at the local pharmacy (like before prohibition), why would they ever give a penny to a street dealer?
DUIs are up. It’s unclear how much of that is marijuana-related because Colorado only started tracking marijuana-related DUIs since legalization.
There are other stats, like arrests for smoking pot in a public park. These have exploded in Denver because they used to be at or near 0. Cops just weren’t arresting people smoking pot in parks and now they are so the crime stats are really skewed.
“The Mob” gets into any business where they can make money, especially attracted to cash sales businesses, and are a major force behind the push to legalize pot and other drugs.
They have moved into Colorado, both legally and illegally. They dominate many service industries in the North East. Some of their businesses are legit, but they are used to launder illegal receipts, and fund their illegal operations.
Stoner America is not where we need to go.
DUI means driving under the influence. Doesn’t matter if it is alcohol or pot. That figure is up, because of pot.
Now that pot is legal in Denver why is it now a crime to smoke it in a park and it wasn’t before?
Hard to get exercised about mob activity when no one of any importance in the financial industry has gone to jail. Don't give me Madoff.
I was curious where you got your data.
“The Mob” gets into any business where they can make money,
That’s exactly what I said. But allowing the businesses to be legal minimizes criminal involvement and violence. Because non-mob business owners can get *some* help from the government if the mob moves in. In an illegal businesses, the mob knows you have no protection at all and everything must be settled with guns.
“...especially attracted to cash sales businesses, and are a major force behind the push to legalize pot and other drugs.”
That doesn’t make sense these days. If pot was completely legal, most people would be buying it with credit instead of cash. Very few people nowadays use cash when they don’t have to.
Of course government can be corrupted too. Why do you think the Feds are forcing pot businesses to use cash for sales and paying growers? IF it was fully legal, every dollar spent on pot would be traceable AND it would benefit the legal business owners (by reducing taxes)
Making things 100% legal and open will minimize that corruption.
Someone didnt pay off the cartels or the bosses. Too late now.
Nothing to look for now, the killers are surely back in Mexico by now.
Wasn't it a crime to smoke it ANYWHERE before legalization? So no need to specify parks.
I was speaking to Fredpoll, he was the one who mentioned arrests in parks.
I did various Google searches looking for articles. For example “drug violence rates colorado.”
“That figure is up, because of pot.”
We don’t actually have data to support that because we don’t know what the pot-related rate was prior to legalization.
“Now that pot is legal in Denver why is it now a crime to smoke it in a park and it wasn’t before?”
It was a crime. The cops just weren’t arresting people for it. This is because there was a lot of pressure to arrest people for the marijuana crime you DIDN’T see like selling or growing. Now, those crimes are gone and the cops have more incentive to clean up minor use in parks and other public places. There are a bunch of new laws about use in public.
Bottom line, the authorities are pushing to keep the use in its private confines. Previously, it was those private confines that were the “high value” targets of law enforcement.
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