Posted on 01/11/2014 12:49:10 PM PST by Brad from Tennessee
As the smoke settles from the first week of legal marijuana sales in Colorado, experts are warning that sanctioned pot dealers could become targets for the very folks they put out of business.
Taking over a trade once ruled by drug cartels and turning it into an all-cash business could make pot shops prime targets for extortion, black-market competition and robbery. One veteran border narcotics agent told FoxNews.com Colorado's legal pot industry will find it hard to keep the criminals from horning in on a lucrative business they once controlled.
"Mexico is already in Colorado without the risks," the agent, who requested anonymity, said of the state's heavy pre-existing cartel presence. "Legal businesses will likely see a rise in extortion attempts while law enforcement will see a lot of backdoor deals being made."
Cartels, especially the Juarez and Sinaloa, who have a strong presence in Colorado, could not have been happy with the estimated $1 million in sales Jan. 1, the first day of legalized retail sales. In 2012 the Mexican Competitiveness Institute issued a report saying that Mexico’s cartels would lose as much as $1.425 billion if Colorado legalized marijuana. The organization also predicted that drug trafficking revenues would fall 20 to 30 percent, and the Sinaloa cartel, which would be the most affected, would lose up to 50 percent. . .
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
It is legal up to about six plants or so in Colorado.
These are serious criminals who will never simply go away. Even if they don’t muscle in on legal pot shops, they will divert their resources and sinister genius into other illegal operations, like child prostitution or harder drugs.
The prices will drop from competition once supply meets demand and the cartels will have no hold on the business.
This sounds like a guy with a financial incentive in fighting pot - his job - making nonsense commentary on the situation.
How long before libertopians want to legalize those too?
The cartels will NOT move in.
I believe they've already been doing those things, for quite some time now.
Considering that these pot shops are heavily regulated and taxed, it is more accurate to say that the pot industry switched cartels. Now that the government is involved in ensuring the success of this tax base, I don’t think the Mexican cartels have a chance.
Thank you for some sanity in this thread. I was beginning to wonder about all these “conservatives” clamouring for continued government control.
Nah, the Cartels and the Government will have a “friendly merger.”
Yeah, but then they will have more time and money to spend aggressively trying to expand the market.
“Colorado pot shops likely targets of cartels”
Yea, the DEA, FBI and every other federal agency.
Those shops are no better than the dirty dark street corner pushers and the dopers frequenting them are the same losers as the pusher’s customers.
Leno hit home the other evening when he commented on the coming shortage of Pot in Colorado,
He just said it was another case of once the Government puts its hands on something, it screws it up...
An acquaintance reminded me of the old
“Let the US Fed Govt take over the Sahara Desert and in 10 years there will be a sand shortage” theorty.
The cartels have legal opposition and lost revenue. The 2 things they “love” the most. They can either target the shops, sell to the shops or undercut the price even more. Of course there is the flip side of a the current $400/oz legal price cap, the illegal pot might jump in price and it will still look like a better deal. Whatever happens, it will likely not have been predicted as the law was being passed.
Who actually thinks that an uneducated, unskilled criminal gang member with blood on his hands will look for a legitimate job just because he can't smuggle pot?
Not a surprise. Soon they will own the state - those parts of it which don’t secede that is.
“Federal legalization would allow an interstate market for these products and their full commercialization”
Interstate market for pot but not for health insurance.
Nope, nothing to see here.
Impossible.
I was told (repeatedly) by a dope fiend that legalized drugs would make them cheap and eliminate the criminal drug gangs.
No, but they are competing on price.
From Forbes:
One black-market dealer tells The Pueblo Chieftan he sells high-quality marijuana for $225 to $300 an ounce, compared to $400 or more charged by state-licensed stores. “People will get real tired of paying the taxes real fast,” he says. “When you can buy an ounce from me for $225 to $300, the state adds as much as $90 just for the tax.”
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