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motaman
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Some think cartels help supply medical marijuana in Colorado
#11298826 - 10/22/09 11:00 AM (14 years, 5 months ago) |
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Some think cartels help supply medical marijuana in Colorado By Mike McPhee and Victoria Barbatelli The Denver Post Posted: 10/21/2009 01:00:00 AM MDT Updated: 10/21/2009 07:33:57 AM MDT
Demand for medical marijuana in Colorado has grown so fast in the past few months that it has outstripped the production of legal "grow" operations and is now probably being supplied by international drug cartels, say some local sheriffs and agents from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
And as dispensaries proliferate throughout the state, police and lawyers say they are worried about the peripheral crime rising around the shops intended to function as pharmacies, selling medical marijuana prescribed to people who suffer one of eight conditions, ranging from chronic pain to glaucoma.
"Dispensaries are popping up like mushrooms," said DEA special agent-in-charge Jeffrey Sweetin. "Now we have thousands of 20- to 25-year-olds carrying cards. And the cartels are getting rich off this law."
Last summer, the Colorado Board of Health declined to limit the number of patients that medical marijuana dispensaries could service.
The result, health department spokesman Mark Salley said, was a boom in the number of people who received cards allowing them to purchase medical pot. There are now 13,000 people in possession of such cards.
Colorado, which approved medical marijuana in 2000, is one of 14 states that permit it.
The number of Colorado dispensaries is not tracked by the state health department or any other agency.
Legal grow operations linked to dispensaries are limited to six cannabis plants each.
By contrast, most of the street pot comes from big, outdoor grows, such as the three operations — within a 5-mile radius of Chatfield Reservoir — busted by DEA officials last summer. Sweetin said one grow had 14,000 plants that averaged 5 to 6 feet tall.
He said the average illegal indoor grow is 100 to 200 plants averaging 3 feet tall.
Sheriff Bill Masters of San Miguel County, which includes Telluride, said the number of medical-marijuana users in his county has grown so fast that he, too, is concerned about where the dope is coming from.
"The numbers don't seem to add up to me," he said. "It seems difficult to supply people with the number of plants allowed. My suspicions are that marijuana might be coming from other growers."
Competition among dispensaries has become intense, and security concerns are rising.
Last month, several men wearing jackets identifying themselves as federal agents attempted to rob a marijuana dispensary in the 1900 block of South Cherry Street in Denver.
According to police, the dispensary operators drew weapons and a gunfight erupted in the street. No one was reported injured and no arrests were made, police said.
Last weekend, the U.S. Department of Justice issued a directive advising prosecutors not to pursue cases against medical-marijuana users and suppliers who follow state laws.
"Supply (of marijuana) is not directly addressed in (state law), and we think it's one of the areas that could lead to criminal elements being involved," said Longmont city attorney Eugene Mei, noting that the city is seeking a 90-day moratorium on new dispensaries.
In the wake of the Justice Department advisory, the DEA's Sweetin said "it's business as usual" in terms of enforcement. "We're leaving cancer patients alone," he said. "But we're not being told to leave the dispensaries alone.
"We are looking at dispensaries that are not in clear and unambiguous compliance with the state law. We are looking at dispensaries that are using the state law to circumvent federal law."
There is big money to be made in medical marijuana.
At the Peace in Medicine dispensary at 20th and Arapahoe streets in Denver, near the federal courthouse, a quarter-ounce of high-grade pot sells for $120. Good-quality pot on the street sells for an average of $80 per quarter ounce, according to an active user.
"This economy is feeding the illegal organized crime element. They are getting their money in the range of hundreds of thousands of dollars," Sweetin said. "The dispensaries are paying their bills, their weaponry, their profits."
http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_13605814?source=rss
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MycoUnderground
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Registered: 10/23/08
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Loc: Suburban CO
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Re: Some think cartels help supply medical marijuana in Colorado [Re: motaman]
#11298851 - 10/22/09 11:07 AM (14 years, 5 months ago) |
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this article
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Herbie5075
The Quiet One
Registered: 08/14/06
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Re: Some think cartels help supply medical marijuana in Colorado [Re: MycoUnderground]
#11298889 - 10/22/09 11:15 AM (14 years, 5 months ago) |
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they only allow 6 plant's per legal grow? How do you expect to serve the people when growers are only allowed 6 plants
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shroomgatherer
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Re: Some think cartels help supply medical marijuana in Colorado [Re: motaman]
#11299021 - 10/22/09 11:48 AM (14 years, 5 months ago) |
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Quote:
"Dispensaries are popping up like mushrooms"
Nice
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Cap Stemson
Stranger
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Re: Some think cartels help supply medical marijuana in Colorado [Re: shroomgatherer]
#11299058 - 10/22/09 11:58 AM (14 years, 5 months ago) |
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"Colorado has grown so fast in the past few months that it has outstripped the production of legal "grow" operations and is now probably being supplied by international drug cartels, say some local sheriffs and agents from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration."
That is such bullshit! mexican brick weed= medical marijuana? the sherrif is a god damn idiot.
"....And the cartels are getting rich off this law."
The DEA are completly brainwashed, always have been. God damn these idiots just won't stop with the ignorance. Why does it seem like the morons who enforce the law, don't know a god damn thing? Is that how it is suppose to be structured? They seriously have no idea where the weed is coming from yet they point out the cartels as if everyone having anything to do with cannabis is a criminal. These idiots (DEA) need to be shut down for good.
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TacticalBongRip
Curious Observer
Registered: 08/20/05
Posts: 527
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Re: Some think cartels help supply medical marijuana in Colorado [Re: motaman]
#11299963 - 10/22/09 02:15 PM (14 years, 5 months ago) |
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Quote:
motaman said:
Sheriff Bill Masters of San Miguel County, which includes Telluride, said the number of medical-marijuana users in his county has grown so fast that he, too, is concerned about where the dope is coming from.
"The numbers don't seem to add up to me," he said. "It seems difficult to supply people with the number of plants allowed. My suspicions are that marijuana might be coming from other growers."
If the numbers don't add up that could possibly be due to the fact that you're a dumbass cop starting rumors based on your 8th grade mathematical skills and lack of evidence.
Another (sad) attempt by authorities to defame the medical marijuana movement. Surprised they would do a whole article on it, but then again maybe not.
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Gastronomicus
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Re: Some think cartels help supply medical marijuana in Colorado [Re: Herbie5075]
#11300021 - 10/22/09 02:24 PM (14 years, 5 months ago) |
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Quote:
Herbie5075 said: they only allow 6 plant's per legal grow? How do you expect to serve the people when growers are only allowed 6 plants
Only 3 of said plants are allowed to be in flower at any given time.
Frankly, the cartels are not doing this. What happens is the medical evaluation places charge 200 for a card, OR they charge 50 for a card and you designate your caregiver as someone of their choice. That means the dispensary-run medical evaluators can set up whoever they want as a caregiver for a large amount of patients, thus increasing the "legal" limit. And I've smoked some of the in state medical, it definitely did not come from Mexico
-------------------- Make my Funk the P Funk, I wants to get Funked up LAGM2024
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redeyesmj
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Loc: Middle of kansas
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Re: Some think cartels help supply medical marijuana in Colorado [Re: Gastronomicus]
#11300066 - 10/22/09 02:34 PM (14 years, 5 months ago) |
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i have smoked lots of colorado bud and it does not com from mexico thats for shure.
-------------------- Where am I at? [/url] “To be godless is probably the first step to innocence," he said, "to lose the sense of sin and subordination, the false grief for things supposed to be lost." So by innocence you mean not an absence of experience, but an absence of illusions." An absence of need for illusions," he said. "A love of and respect for what is right before your eyes.”― Anne Rice, The Vampire Lestat
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Dutch-Master2890
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Re: Some think cartels help supply medical marijuana in Colorado [Re: redeyesmj]
#11300294 - 10/22/09 03:04 PM (14 years, 5 months ago) |
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why couldnt it just be more residents are growing pot, right away blame those damn mexican cartels.
"This economy is feeding the illegal organized crime element. They are getting their money in the range of hundreds of thousands of dollars," Sweetin said. "The dispensaries are paying their bills, their weaponry, their profits."
so why not legalize it already and so all of us criminal americans can start paying taxes to benefit our country if they dont want it in the mexicans hands
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Gastronomicus
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Re: Some think cartels help supply medical marijuana in Colorado [Re: Dutch-Master2890]
#11300300 - 10/22/09 03:05 PM (14 years, 5 months ago) |
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Cartels are the new anti-drug talking point, so naturally it's their fault.
-------------------- Make my Funk the P Funk, I wants to get Funked up LAGM2024
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gnarfbuckle
Above The Ignorance
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Re: Some think cartels help supply medical marijuana in Colorado [Re: Gastronomicus]
#11300547 - 10/22/09 03:36 PM (14 years, 5 months ago) |
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Since when do cartels grow bud that isnt dirt?
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madsick
whoremonger
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Re: Some think cartels help supply medical marijuana in Colorado [Re: gnarfbuckle]
#11300691 - 10/22/09 03:58 PM (14 years, 5 months ago) |
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i couldnt imagine where the dankest bud in america showing up in colorado is coming from...maybe the same place it all does!(mexico)
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Dutchie3k
Psychic Drifter
Registered: 12/16/08
Posts: 348
Loc: this hazy bubble, state o...
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Re: Some think cartels help supply medical marijuana in Colorado [Re: madsick]
#11301511 - 10/22/09 06:10 PM (14 years, 5 months ago) |
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Yeah I would totally rather smoke some mexi-trash instead of dank ass homegrown medical buds....
P.S. to Cap Stemson (sick name btw) it isn't so much that the DEA is filled with semi-retarded redneck jackasses (although there are obviously a bunch,) as it is that, as always, when they are faced with concrete evidence that what they do on a daily basis is a fucking fraud and a joke (enforce the drug war,) they have to make up some outrageous propaganda in order to appear legitimate.
Right or wrong?
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naum
Registered: 10/09/07
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Re: Some think cartels help supply medical marijuana in Colorado [Re: gnarfbuckle]
#11303593 - 10/22/09 11:12 PM (14 years, 5 months ago) |
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One of the more recent phenomenoms is the rise of US-based organized crime groups with international ties running major grow operations in many suburban houses.
This article goes into detail about one DEA operation against such a syndicate. It's pretty fascinating and there is a good Bush tie: http://www.westword.com/2009-06-25/news/a-multimillion-dollar-weed-growing-ring-goes-down-and-threatens-to-take-a-prominent-restauranteur-with-it-but-whose-leak-almost-blew-the-case
A lot of people especially journalists use the word cartel to mean any sort of organized crime organization.
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