• Colorado's pot legalization causing headaches for surrounding states
    65 replies, posted
[quote]States are fighting a new kind of border battle against marijuana trafficking. The weed used to come from Mexico -- now, it's coming from Colorado. Ever since Colorado legalized pot, law enforcement officers in surrounding states have noticed a surge in marijuana being brought across state lines. And it's causing headaches, as the other states face rising costs associated with arresting and processing those who mistakenly think they can get away with transporting marijuana purchased legally in Colorado. "One of the [arguments] for legalizing marijuana [in Colorado and Washington state] ... was to reduce the black market," said Tom Gorman, who heads a multi-state task force called the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area. "In fact, the legalized marijuana has become the black market for other states." Mark Overman, the sheriff for Scotts Bluff County in Nebraska, said the trafficking is likely an "unintended consequence" of Colorado's decision last November, "but it was a completely predictable consequence." Like other parts of the nation, Overman says there's always been illegal marijuana in his county, which sits some 50 miles north of the Colorado border in Nebraska. He says the main source used to be international. "Primarily it was coming from Mexico and drug trafficking organizations in Mexico. But probably starting in about 2012 was when we really became aware of the Colorado connection." Most of the areas that border Colorado are rural, and officials in those regions now say dealing with all the marijuana coming out of Colorado is breaking their small budgets. "Putting people in jail, prosecuting them, that costs us money," Overman said. "Officers go to court, that's overtime. We may have to defend these people, and we're paying for their defense in many cases." Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning said he won't rule out the possibility of taking Colorado to court to ask for reimbursement for the costs of dealing with a problem its neighbor created. The feds are keeping an eye on the issue. In August of last year, the Justice Department issued a press release addressing the legalization of recreational marijuana in Colorado and Washington. Despite the fact the drug is still illegal at the federal level, the department said it had "informed the governors of both states that it is deferring its right to challenge their legalization laws at this time," as long as certain conditions were met. One of those conditions was "implementing effective measures to prevent diversion of marijuana outside of the regulated system and to other states." Eight months later, Michele Leonhart, head of the Drug Enforcement Administration, told the Senate Judiciary Committee the amount of "legal" marijuana crossing Colorado's state lines is definitely increasing. "The trends are what us in law enforcement had expected would happen," she told the committee.[/quote] [url=http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/06/06/colorado-new-black-market-pot-legalization-causing-headaches-for-surrounding/]Fox News[/url] Like everything else in the world: If your neighbor has it legalized, you have a blackmarket for it.
Then...legalize it in all states instead of prosecuting people for it? Christ,
Headache? Poor choice of words; marijuana may help just that!
Once they see the money the state pulls in from it they're going to probably want to legalize too in order to get a slice of the pie and to cut out the illegal side of the trade. Utah I believe is doomed to never legalize or will be a rabid fighter against such legislation.
[quote] "Putting people in jail, prosecuting them, that costs us money," Overman said. "Officers go to court, that's overtime. We may have to defend these people, and we're paying for their defense in many cases."[/quote] oh that poor poor Judicial Branch of Nebraska
Well, they created the problem by making it illegal.
[QUOTE=Elecbullet;45023009]oh that poor poor Judicial Branch of Nebraska[/QUOTE] Nebraska isnt a wealthy state to begin with, and it costs a stupid amount of money to go court. I dont see an issue with Nebraska asking Colorado for reimbursement. Colorado created the problem and thus should pay for the fix. Nebraska doesnt have to conform to Colorado.
[QUOTE=BANNED USER;45022929]Once they see the money the state pulls in from it they're going to probably want to legalize too in order to get a slice of the pie and to cut out the illegal side of the trade. Utah I believe is doomed to never legalize or will be a rabid fighter against such legislation.[/QUOTE] Yea, well, they're Mormons; what do you expect?
[QUOTE=Code3Response;45023028]Nebraska isnt a wealthy state to begin with, and it costs a stupid amount of money to go court. I dont see an issue with Nebraska asking Colorado for reimbursement. Colorado created the problem and thus should pay for the fix. Nebraska doesnt have to conform to Colorado.[/QUOTE] I take issue with that statement; the only thing that could be said to be a problem here is that a barely harmful substance is criminalized.
[QUOTE=BANNED USER;45022929]Once they see the money the state pulls in from it they're going to probably want to legalize too in order to get a slice of the pie and to cut out the illegal side of the trade. Utah I believe is doomed to never legalize or will be a rabid fighter against such legislation.[/QUOTE] Didn't Colorado bring in like 1-2 million in the first month of it being legalised.
Well then the answer is simple. IF you cannot afford prosecuting people over this stuff legalize it yourself.
Hasn't Colorado and Washington seen a huge spike in profits since the weed legalisation, don't you think that is enough to convince surrounding states to give in?
There are many people here in Omaha, NE trying to bring pot back from their excursions to Colorado. It's great(for me). I'm just waiting on that Iowa legalization though. Then we can literally walk across the border. [QUOTE=Code3Response;45023028]Nebraska isnt a wealthy state to begin with, and it costs a stupid amount of money to go court. I dont see an issue with Nebraska asking Colorado for reimbursement. Colorado created the problem and thus should pay for the fix. Nebraska doesnt have to conform to Colorado.[/QUOTE] Nebraska isn't wealthy, but also doesn't have a lot of expenses. We also almost entirely avoided the economic downturn.
well at least mexican drug dealers aren't stealing jobs from american drug dealers anymore [editline]7th June 2014[/editline] [QUOTE=Code3Response;45023028]Nebraska isnt a wealthy state to begin with, and it costs a stupid amount of money to go court. I dont see an issue with Nebraska asking Colorado for reimbursement. Colorado created the problem and thus should pay for the fix. Nebraska doesnt have to conform to Colorado.[/QUOTE] the problem was created with prohibition, so no, colorado doesn't have to pay to fix it
How about decriminalising small possession which accounts for like 90+% of all pot related arrests so youre not locking up your entire population? [editline]7th June 2014[/editline] As far as the law currently sees it, one ounce of pot is more deadly than ten pounds of explosives, "he's got a joint! He will destroy the world put him away for five years!"
I'm in wyoming about half an hour from the Colorado state line, I see cops and highway patrolman searching cars coming in from Colorado every single day. Such a waste of time and resources.
clearly the solution is to make it illegal again in colorado
[QUOTE=SpaceGhost;45022913]Then...legalize it in all states instead of prosecuting people for it? Christ,[/QUOTE] The true headache is that there are people out there who don't fucking get this
Legalize it then dumbasses. I haven't even touched pot once and I have no intention of doing so, and I still think it should be legalized.
[QUOTE]"Putting people in jail, prosecuting them, that costs us money," Overman said. "Officers go to court, that's overtime. We may have to defend these people, and we're paying for their defense in many cases."[/QUOTE] Maybe if they spent that money prosecuting and putting REAL criminals behind bars instead of people that smoke pot, they could save more money?
[QUOTE=TestECull;45023092]Well then the answer is simple. IF you cannot afford prosecuting people over this stuff legalize it yourself.[/QUOTE] If everyone started playing the stupid "knockout" game in your state and you got flooded with court costs, would your argument of "legalize it" still be the same?
[QUOTE=SpaceGhost;45022913]Then...legalize it in all states instead of prosecuting people for it? Christ,[/QUOTE] [QUOTE=A B.A. Survivor;45023011]Well, they created the problem by making it illegal.[/QUOTE] [QUOTE=TestECull;45023092]Well then the answer is simple. IF you cannot afford prosecuting people over this stuff legalize it yourself.[/QUOTE] Yes, shame on those small-town sheriffs and county courts for doing their job as dictated by the state and having to spend lots of money and overtime to deal with it, they should just make weed legal with their nonexistent legislative power. Did you guys just read the title and immediately jump to replying?
I think the pressure on each individual state's government will be a domino effect in legalization. Which in my opinion is not a bad thing. Let people make a decision like they do with alcohol. This is essentially just the modern day prohibition with more technology.
[QUOTE=Trumple;45025813]If everyone started playing the stupid "knockout" game in your state and you got flooded with court costs, would your argument of "legalize it" still be the same?[/QUOTE] Yeah because smoking a plant is the same as violently assaulting unsuspecting people.
[QUOTE=Trumple;45025813]If everyone started playing the stupid "knockout" game in your state and you got flooded with court costs, would your argument of "legalize it" still be the same?[/QUOTE] lol u r dum [highlight](User was banned for this post ("Shitpost" - Craptasket))[/highlight]
[QUOTE=Trumple;45025813]If everyone started playing the stupid "knockout" game in your state and you got flooded with court costs, would your argument of "legalize it" still be the same?[/QUOTE] Those two things are hardly comparable.
As much as I think weed should be legalized I would still appreciate the humor of the feds having to step in to prevent what is essentially college kiddies running an internal drug trafficking ring.
[QUOTE=Trumple;45025813]If everyone started playing the stupid "knockout" game in your state and you got flooded with court costs, would your argument of "legalize it" still be the same?[/QUOTE] If Colorado legalized the Nazis and they began crossing over in to other states, would your argument of "legalize it" still be the same? Seriously I don't even know how you got the comparison between weed and the knockout game the fuck brah?
This thread has plenty of hay for the stawmans
[QUOTE=reedbo;45026021]Yeah because smoking a plant is the same as violently assaulting unsuspecting people.[/QUOTE] [QUOTE=.FLAP.JACK.DAN.;45026073]Those two things are hardly comparable.[/QUOTE] [QUOTE=Noss;45026328]Seriously I don't even know how you got the comparison between weed and the knockout game the fuck brah?[/QUOTE] He used an extreme example to show that 'if it's expensive to prosecute you should just legalize it' is a bad argument and alone isn't a good reason to legalize anything, why is that hard to comprehend?
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