Posted on 11/06/2007 3:08:42 PM PST by amchugh
"They're just a couple of nice kids from Berkeley who wound up being the victims of their own success."
That's how lawyer and longtime family friend Harold Rosenthal summed up the case against his clients Winslow and Abraham Norton, the brothers charged last week with moving an estimated $49 million worth of pot through their marijuana dispensary just outside Hayward over the past three years.
And, believe it or not, the brothers paid state and federal taxes on all of it.
What's more, their dispensary had a medical marijuana permit issued by Alameda County and was regularly visited by sheriff's deputies to make sure everything was on the up and up
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
ping
paying taxes on it was a big mistake. no way they turn a blind eye to almost 50 million in traffic.
too bad, chemo patients tonight with no appetite and ms patients with more symptoms. hey big govt, how about going after illegal aliens or meth labs. pot heads arent a big societal drain.
you actually think this is used for medical purposes?
I am all convinced despite that despite the laws "big govt" want illegals here and the continued invasion. If the feds spent half the money they use in the undercover work, surveillance, apprehension, prosecution and imprisonment of drug laws our illegal immigration problem would not be the level it is today or even barely existent.
Did you read the article?
Maybe you missed these tidbits:
Two years ago, on Super Bowl Sunday, a team of armed hoods busted into the dispensary...
Four months later, a masked gunman fired four shots into a dispensary worker's car....
In July of this year, one of the club's customers was ambushed and killed....
And this past February, the brothers themselves were involved in a shootout...
Who really cares? Even if most of the purchasers are using it to relax and/or elevate their mood, what difference does it make. Its probably safer and more effective than the anxiety and anti-depressants that are doled out like candy by physicians.
Marijuana Production in the United States (2006)
By Jon Gettman, Ph.D.
Published in
The Bulletin of Cannabis Reform, December 2006
http://www.drugscience.org/bcr/index.html
Executive Summary
1) Marijuana is the largest cash crop in the United States, more valuable than corn and wheat combined. Using conservative price estimates domestic marijuana production has a value of $35.8 billion. The domestic marijuana crop consists of 56.4 million marijuana plants cultivated outdoors worth $31.7 billion and 11.7 million plants cultivated indoors worth $4.1 billion.
2) The top ten marijuana producing states are California, Tennessee, Kentucky, Hawaii, Washington, North Carolina, Florida, Alabama., West Virginia, and Oregon. Five states (California, Tennessee, Kentucky, Hawaii and Washington) had marijuana crops worth over $1 billion.)
3) Despite intensive eradication efforts domestic marijuana production has increased ten fold over the last 25 years from 1,000 metric tons (2.2 million pounds) in 1981 to 10,000 metric tons (22 million pounds) in 2006, according to federal government estimates.
4) Marijuana is the top cash crop in 12 states, one of the top 3 cash crops in 30 states, and one of the top 5 cash crops in 39 states. The domestic marijuana crop is larger than Cotton in Alabama, larger than Grapes, Vegetables and Hay combined in California, larger than Peanuts in Georgia, and larger than Tobacco in both South Carolina and North Carolina.
5) From 2001 to 2005 federal and state eradication programs eradicated an average of 33,033 outdoor cultivation sites per year and an average of 2,701 indoor marijuana grow-rooms per year. From 1982 to 2005 the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Domestic Cannabis Eradication/Suppression Program (DCESP) eradicated over 103 million cultivated marijuana plants, an average of 4.3 million cultivated plants a year over this 24 year period.
6) The ten-fold growth of production over the last 25 years and its proliferation to every part of the country demonstrate that marijuana has become a pervasive and ineradicable part of the national economy. The failure of intensive eradication programs suggests that it is finally time to give serious consideration to marijuana’s legalization in the United States.
Two years ago, on Super Bowl Sunday, a team of armed hoods busted into the dispensary... Four months later, a masked gunman fired four shots into a dispensary worker's car.... In July of this year, one of the club's customers was ambushed and killed....
The article does not suggest the perpetrators were "potheads." These kids made 26 million dollars. It was a big business & pot is still, for the most part illegal. I would guess that these crimes were related to the kids wealth and the illegal nature of the drug. Neither condition would apply if pot were treated the same way as alcholhol in our society.
BTW, at $49 million, this “huge” operation (over how many years?) is approximately .12 percent (.0012) of one year’s domestic cultivated marijuana.
and all these illegal aliens are taking the jobs Americans won’t do. Perhaps. But it’s illegal and people who do illegal things often tend to do other bigger illegal things. Even something as petty as turnstile jumpers...2 in 13 had felony warrants
What if liquor stores stocked single malt Glenmorangie and Glenfiddich at $1,000 per bottle or a discounted $10,000 per case?
And further, both are arbitrarily illegal, and thus made only in covert still operations deep in the Daniel Boone National Forest by illegal aliens from Aberdeenshire, Scotland.
How do you think that’d work out?
They followed state laws; if the marijuana was for other than medical purposes, rewrite the law. In the meantime, perhaps someone can explain why the federal government is arresting people for activities performed within a state, and legal within that state.
yes but come on, just be honest, stop hiding behind the doctors, we know it’s a joke and say you’re legalizing pot for everyone if that’s what you want
Wrong! Not paying taxes would have been a sure long jail sentence. Not sure how it is any of the biz of the Federal government. I guess the congress in D.C. knows what’s best for the sheeple of Kalifornia.
I'd have no problem with that. To be honest, on my list of important issues legalization of marijuana ranks about 252nd. However, in this case these guys followed the law, albeit a (perhaps) poorly-written one. The feds have no business whatsoever intervening in this.
Of course, I'm sure FR's resident statists will be along shortly to defend the indefensible.
If it were legal the value of the crop would be cut by 80%.
fewer people would buy it because the cost is so high
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