Border patrol seizes some $2.1 million in marijuana

Odessa American ^ | December 4, 2003

[yonif]

SIERRA BLANCA — U.S. Customs border patrol agents seized about 2,600 pounds of marijuana worth about $2.1 million during the holiday weekend. Sunday, Border patrol agents seized 2,592 pounds of marijuana at the Sierra Blanca checkpoint. According to police reports, the marijuana was hidden in boxes and duffel bags in the trailer of an 18-wheeler.

The San Antonio driver, whose name was not released, was arrested and turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agents in El Paso.

Agents estimated the street value of the marijuana from Sunday’s bust at $2,073,280.

On Monday, Alpine agents seized 72 pounds of marijuana in a 2002 Ford F-150 pickup driven at the Highway 118 Checkpoint south of Alpine.

The marijuana, which agents valued at $57,880, was hidden in the vehicle’s gas tank.

The male driver and a female passenger, neither of whom were identified, were arrested and taken into custody of the Drug Enforcement Administra-tion.

A female juvenile passenger was turned over to Child Protective Services.

[jmc813]

I thought Mom told you to quit giving your address out over the Internet?

[SGCOS]

Meanwhile, the red carpet remains rolled out for illegals.

[newgeezer]

It was typically $40/oz back in '79-'82; more for the really good sh*t. If it's still $50/oz, it's a bargain!

[philman_36]

Don't tread on spelling!
All that work for naught.
Go fix your silly little picture so everyone will stop laughing at you.
I'm trying to help whether you believe it or not.
can't even spell a simple word like tread...sheesh

[philman_36]

The San Antonio driver, whose name was not released, was arrested and turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agents in El Paso.
Well, it's obvious that the driver was an illegal alien and wasn't from San Antonio. Otherwise, Immigration and Customs wouldn't have been called in.
The male driver and a female passenger, neither of whom were identified, were arrested and taken into custody of the Drug Enforcement Administra-tion.
One DEA and the other Immigration. See what I mean?

And some $2.1 million in marijuana seized?

"More than anything else it would be the intensified inspection process put into place after September 11 that is responsible for this. Terrorism is the focus, but our greatest dividend on the border has been the increased drug seizures." Roger Maier U.S. Bureau of Customs and Border Protection

[William Terrell]

About one thousandth of one percent of the the cannabis used in America. I wonder how much the operation and incarceration of the the miscreants will cost. Let's see, you have agent costs, transport costs, temporary internment costs, trial, and possibly public defender, costs and the penitentiary stay.

All for a ancient little plant that grows wild all over the world, which people have been diddling for untold centuries, if not millennia, like alcohol.

And there are some people on this same classy intellectual forum that think this is A) sane, B) is necessary, and C) will work.

[TigersEye]

$50/ounce? All that interdiction isn't making it any more costly. It wasn't that cheap in the 60's.

You must be young. A lid went for $5 and a lid was a four finger baggie. Quite a bit more than an ounce. It was up to $15 by 1970 and as much as $35 per weighed oz. by '73 when I graduated HS.

Interdiction in and of itself doesn't drive the price up or lessen the supply. It's the mere illegality and prosecution efforts that drive prices.

[TigersEye]

$50 per oz is a lot for Mexican though. $17 on the third turnover is more like it but that would make this bust sound too penny ante.

[Hemingway's Ghost]

Getting drilled again over the sink by your big brother, I see.

[TKDietz]

We handle quite a few of these drug mule cases where people are caught with dozens or hundreds of pounds of Mexican marijuana. I've seen the government's expert testimony on these so many times I pretty much know it by heart. The State's experts here at least always claim that the after being smuggled over the border, the marijuana usually goes for about $300 to $500 a pound out in Arizona, New Mexico, or wherever it's coming across the border. The farther east it gets, the more expensive it gets.

By the time it reaches the mid south/southeast where I live, it's going for anywhere between $800 to $1,200 a pound depending on the quantity one buys. It's cheaper to buy quantity. A quarter ounce goes for $25 to $40, and an ounce goes for $80 to $120. Out on the east coast, it could be going for over $2,000 a pound, even in several pound quantities.

It is my understanding that these prices have changed very little over the last fifteen or twenty years. I can remember back fifteen years or so when I was still in college and I'm pretty certain we were paying $25 or $30 for a quarter ounce of Mexican back then. Commercial grade pot prices haven't really changed in a long time.

It's a different story though for cocaine which has gotten considerably cheaper and more potent over the last twenty years. I just had a client plead to conspiracy to deliver cocaine who had sold a half ounce for $600 and he told me he should have known that was a cop he was dealing with because no one pays that much for coke around here. Others are telling me very pure powdered cocaine is going for around $150 for three and a half grams and less for larger purchases. If I lived in Florida or some other point of entry for cocaine and not in a small town a long way from anything I wouldn't be so surprised by this.

Anyone who tells you we are winning the war on drugs is either badly misinformed, ignorant and in denial, intentionally misleading you, or all of the above.

[TKDietz]

"More than anything else it would be the intensified inspection process put into place after September 11 that is responsible for this. Terrorism is the focus, but our greatest dividend on the border has been the increased drug seizures." Roger Maier U.S. Bureau of Customs and Border Protection

I don't know exactly what a great dividend this is. So far, it doesn't appear to be doing anything to price or availability where I live, but I do see it causing something else. From what I've been reading there are a lot of Mexican drug dealers who are moving their operations across the border and growing their dope in the U.S. so they don't have to smuggle it across the border. Now, they can't get away with growing huge fields of weed here like they did in Mexico so they have their underlings camp out in our national forests growing several well hidden, well cared for smaller plots of much more powerful marijuana. Since they can't grow quantity like they did south of the border, they are going higher quality so they can still bring in the same kind of profits as before.

Not only are we starting to see more high grade outdoor weed, but the indoor hydro stuff is really becoming popular too. That's the stuff they say is not your daddy's marijuana, the really strong stuff. If the supply of cheap Mexican drys up, the demand for this type of marijuana will go up correspondingly and lets just say it will be a realy good time to be in the grow light industry.

So whether all these seizures of cheap Mexican marijuana is such a great dividend or not depends on how you look at it. If you want the overall average THC content of marijuana to get a lot higher here, then I suppose you could look at this as a dividend.

[VaBthang4]

What did I spell?

Ugh...thanks....it wasnt too much work...maybe if I'd been smoking dope my whole life. it'd take me some time but my brain cells are all here. Hahaha

My... the weedwhacker coterie is out in force today! ROTFLOL

[VaBthang4]

LOL...such a witty retort!

C'mon dog...I see better ad hominem on DU. ;o)

BRING YOUR 'A' GAME BRO! ...or is that your 'a' game?

[Hemingway's Ghost]

Sorry, chucklehead: I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent. Give me a ring when you grow up a bit and grab a clue.

[VaBthang4]

And another one!

ROTFLOL! You have no wit you scrub. You're a friggin dope head. Exactly how far does one have to get from reality to believe that legalizing dope and being witty are anywhere in the same ballpark?

You're a bitter, kneejerk Contrarian nitwit desperately seeking an axe to grind. Sounds exactly like your boy Howard Dean. If it werent drugs you were whining about it'd be some other law or authority.

Seriously Bro, dont talk to anyone about growing up. You havent mastered childhood 101: Submission.

"Hemingway's Ghost" ?? haha you gotta be kidding me!

[Hemingway's Ghost]

I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent.

[VaBthang4]

Hahaha...rrrright, idiot.

Top 20 Loserdopian ro-Dope Slogan

20> Got Buzz?
19> Pot: When You Care Enough Not to Care At All
18> A Day Without Pot is Like School
17> Weed My Lips!
16> Hey, America -- Let's Blow This joint!
15> What's So Great About Short-Term Memory Anyway?
14> Obey Your Jones
13> Hemp: The world's practical solution to making, like, paper and rope and necklaces and stuff
12> It's Not Just For Glaucoma Anymore!
11> Help Eradicate Road Rage in Our Lifetime
10> Official Sponsor of the NBA
9> Because the waste is a terrible thing to mi... Dude! I totally f***ed that up!
8> Cannabis: The PRE-Coital Smoke
7> This is your brain.
This is your brain on pot.
This is your brain desperately searching for Doritos.
6> When Was the Last Time You REALLY Looked at Your Hand?
5> SMOKE POT! (Did we just say that out loud? Or did we just think it?)
4> Recommended by 5 Out of 5 Deadheads
3> Just Doob It
2> It's the all-the-time smokey, skunky, sticky, greeny, seedy, stemmy, doobie so-you-can-get-high medicine.

and Topfive.com's Number 1 Slogan for Legalized Marijuana...
1> Skull-Shaped Bong: $12.00
Primo Maui-Grown Bud: $25.00
Watching Teletubbies with Your Buddies: Priceless

[Hemingway's Ghost]

I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent.

Do yourself a favor: stick to things you know best, like trying to form that semi-retarded mug of yours into a manly expression while draping your arm over your butt-buddy's shoulders.

[jmc813]

You havent mastered childhood 101: Submission.

The loyalists to the crown during the Revolution would have loved you.