Posted on 09/18/2022 2:30:38 PM PDT by Libloather
Since the marijuana legalization era began in 2012, the federal government has operated under an unwritten understanding that it would not enforce marijuana laws in states where the drug is legal.
So, how is that working out?
The Los Angeles Times looked for answers in rural California and published the results in a new series this month. California legalized the recreational use of marijuana by referendum in 2016. Proponents promised that a taxable and orderly marijuana trade would be the result, a clear improvement over the violent black market trade that had preceded legalization. They promised that the legal marijuana trade would squeeze the illegal trade out of business.
The exact opposite is now happening.
In short, the consequences of federal nonenforcement and reduced state penalties for marijuana offenses are not pretty. The emergence of a regulated marijuana trade has not reduced crime in California - rather, it has spread crime out into the rural areas and turned local politics across the state into a morass of corruption.
Local politicians now take and demand huge bribes in exchange for growing licenses and legislative support for expanding the industry. According to one source quoted by the Los Angeles Times, bribe requests are typically in the low six-figures. Federal law enforcement authorities have at least been somewhat involved in running sting operations and prosecuting corrupt officials. But for every rock they turn over, there have to be dozens they miss.
And that's just the legal trade. Given the relative absence of federal drug enforcement and reduced state criminal penalties as a result of Proposition 64, illegal and completely unregulated marijuana growing operations have sprung up across California. Heavily armed camps filled with violent armed men, often tied to cartels, now dot the countryside. The neighbors are far too scared to ask questions...
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonexaminer.com ...
When the bread is too expensive and the circuses woked to death, the government has to give you some distraction.
Let the ATF deal with it.....just throw a C or W into the acronymn....
Pots, cigs, alcohol.
All dangerous enough to be illegal.
The weed wagon shows up when the dims want to flip a red state to blue. No more reliable voters for dims and anarchy than potheads.
This article is real BS.
Don't you have any respect for tradition?
There are many places where the movement of weed was controlled by organized crime and, after it was legalized, the movement was controlled by legitimate businesses.
Have you ever read anything else on this subject besides this editorial?
Do you have any personal experience with weed?
Pot legalization will be on November ballot in Missouri .
Most people have enough sense to decide for themselves what is too dangerous without the nanny state making it illegal.
Perhaps motorcycles should be illegal...or rock climbing. I know mothers would be delighted by that.
The problem is always third-party effects. If one only harmed oneself, I would no problem with legalization.
“Is it the government’s job to outlaw dangerous things?”
It’s society’s prerogative to determine what should or should not be legal.
And since government is made up of representatives elected by majority of voters, ie society, then it certainly can decide what should or should not be legal.
When it’s all said and done, it”s the majority of society. that decides on the rules we live by.
Love it, although the seats don’t look couchy enough.
About as well as the anti-smoking price increases.
I think weed is very dangerous, but making it illegal hasn't slowed its use in the slightest.
.
Not the federal government , no. Now I have to go back and re-watch Reefer Madness to see what the hub bub is all about.
I obviously think its destructive too. I don’t think making it legal at any level is particularly helpful. Again, for the reason of the third-party effects, if it only harmed the users it’s on them but it doesn’t.
“It’s society’s prerogative to determine what should or should not be legal.”
If by “society”, you mean the states exercising their lawful powers under the 10th Amendment, then you are correct.
A legal dispensary can't compete with illegally grown weed and now that cops can't stop drivers or pedestrians for probable cause when smelling weed, the illegal industry thrives.
Happening in Oklahoma. Predictable.
Politicians either too scared or making too much in bribes to change the law. The camel is all the way in the tent and messing on the floor.
Barriers to entry are too low and regulation is all but not at all. Oklahoma is becoming pot grower to the world. Cartel wars are next after driving property prices through the roof. I could not afford the place I own now. Grandfathered taxes will go up at 3% a year from now on after years of cheap ownership. The sheeple dont get it yet.
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