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How Marijuana Legalization in America Is Destroying Mexican Drug Cartel Business
Submitted by Mike Krieger of Liberty Blitzkrieg blog,
Nothing is more amusing (and sad) than when I see some ignorant out of stater commenting about how nightmarish the legalization of marijuana has been for Colorado. The most high-profile and hilarious example of this came from disgraced New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who I have criticized sharply on several occasions, here, here and here. He foolishly spouted some hysterical nonsense last month when he said:
“See if you want to live in a major city in Colorado, where there’s head shops popping up on every corner and people flying into your airport just to come and get high. To me, it’s just not the quality of life we want to have here in the state of New Jersey and there’s no tax revenue that’s worth that.”
Honestly, what planet does this clown live on? As someone who actually lives in Colorado, I can tell you that the only thing that has changed since legalization is that there is a greater sense of freedom and people are no longer getting arrested in droves for non-violent drug possession charges. Let’s not forget that the police arrest someone every two seconds in America, many of which are for mere drug possession charges. Apparently, Christie thinks this is a good thing and ultimately results in this mythical wonderful “quality of life” that apparently exists in some corner of New Jersey where rainbow farting unicorns roam the countryside.
As someone who spent nearly three decades in the New York metro area, and who has lived in Colorado now for over three years, I can tell you there’s no comparison. I’ve met many, many people who have intentionally left New Jersey for Colorado, yet I’ve never met a single person who has intentionally left Colorado for New Jersey. Perhaps that person exists and is currently flying back east on his unicorn and is therefore unavailable for comment.
Anyway, while we are on the topic, the Huffington Post posted a great article comparing the two states. They note:
Business climate: It turns out Colorado is a great place for business, ranking seventh out of the 50 states in a 2013 study from CNBC that took into consideration metrics like economy, infrastructure and the cost of doing business. New Jersey came in 42nd.
Forbes agrees, listing Colorado as the fifth best state for “business and careers.” New Jersey comes in 32nd on the Forbes list.
Economic growth and job creation: FreeEnterprise.com gathered data on just how well the 50 states do at creating jobs and fostering economic growth. They ranked Colorado second in the nation for innovation and entrepreneurship (New Jersey was 14th), 14th in economic performance (New Jersey came in at 33rd), and eighth for business climate (New Jersey was 49th).
The state of the states: Politico recently gathered various data points from the Census Bureau, the FBI and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and incorporated them with a slew of other factors, including income, high school graduation rates, life expectancy and more. In their subsequent ranking of the 50 states, Colorado came in seventh overall, while New Jersey came in 12th.
General well-being: The health care company Healthways partnered up with Gallup in 2013 to evaluate well-being across the United States. Looking at residents’ habits and behavior, emotional and physical health, work environments and more, they determined that Colorado ranks seventh in overall well-being. New Jersey comes in 23rd.
Furthermore, the city I currently live in was recently ranked the most fit city in all of America, and 3 of the top 10 cities were in Colorado. New Jersey had no cities in the top ten. Although to be fair, Christie probably skews the data quite a bit. See the rankings here.
Technology and science: The Milken Institute, a California think tank, recently took a close look at how states foster growth in technology and science, two areas that will likely prove key to the United States’ economic recovery. Colorado was ranked fourth in the nation. New Jersey was ranked 15th.
Chris Christie is clearly an ill informed blowhard and let’s not forget this guy wants to become President. How scary is that?
Moving along to the meat of this piece, Vice recently published a great article explaining how the legalization of pot is causing Mexican drug cartels to reduce plantings of marijuana and it also describes the frighteningly irrational response from the DEA. It reports that:
Marijuana has accounted for nearly half of all total drug arrests in the US for the past 20 years, according to the FBI’s crime statistics. And according to the Department of Justice (DOJ), a large portion of the US illegal drug market is controlled directly by Mexican cartels. The DOJ’s National Drug Intelligence Center, which has since been shut down, found in 2011 that the top cartels controlled the majority of drug trade in marijuana, heroin, and methamphetamine in over 1,000 US cities.
Now, those cartels and their farmers complain that marijuana legalization is hurting their business. And some reports could suggest that the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) is more interested in helping to protect the Mexican cartels’ hold on the pot trade than in letting it dissipate. The Washington Post reported on Tuesday that pot farmers in the Sinaloa region have stopped planting due to a massive drop in wholesale prices, from $100 per kilo down to only $25. One farmer is quoted as saying: “It’s not worth it anymore. I wish the Americans would stop with this legalization.”
“Is it hurting the cartels? Yes. The cartels are criminal organizations that were making as much as 35-40 percent of their income from marijuana,” Nelson said, “They aren’t able to move as much cannabis inside the US now.”
In 2012, a study by the Mexican Competitiveness Institute found that US state legalization would cut into cartel business and take over about 30 percent of their market.
Given the DEA’s historic relationship with the Sinaloa cartel, and the agency’s fury over legalized marijuana, it almost seems like the DEA wants to crush the legal weed market in order to protect the interests of their cartel friends. Almost.
Not almost, that is exactly what they want to do.
"The DEA doesn’t want the drug war to end,” said Nelson, when asked about a possible connection between the agency’s hatred of legal pot and its buddies in Sinaloa. “If it ends, they don’t get their toys and their budgets. Once it ends, they aren’t going to have the kind of influence in foreign government. I’m not a conspiracy theorist, but where there’s smoke there’s probably fire.”
The Sinaloa cartel came to prominence in January when the “Fast and Furious” scandal surfaced, in which it was revealed that DEA agents ignored Sinaloa drug shipments and essentially granted immunity to cartel criminals in exchange for information.
Another way the DEA tries to shut down legal marijuana dispensaries, and medical marijuana clinics, is through the banks. While large banks like HSBC and Wachovia have gotten away with laundering billions in cartel drug money, famously referred to as “too big to jail” by Attorney General Eric Holder, banks have been meticulously instructed by the DEA not to work with any kind of marijuana facility.
That’s pennies compared to what the US spends on the drug war. According to the Drug Policy Alliance, we spend $51 billion per year fighting illegal drugs. A 2010 study by Harvard economist Jeffrey Miron found that not only would the US save tremendous amounts of money were it to end drug prohibition, legalizing could bring in an additional $46.7 billion in yearly tax revenue.
“We’ve spent 1.3 trillion since 1972 on the drug war. What have we gotten for that? Drugs are cheaper and easier to get than ever before,” Nelson told VICE News.
For more evidence of the insane mindset permeating the DEA, check out this article that shows how the agency seized hemp seed from Kentucky as state universities attempted to participate in legal studies.
The DEA has no idea what to do with itself now that the population of innocent citizens it can harass for exercising a personal choice and the amount of bribe money it can extract from drug cartels dissipates. Bottom line is that people want drugs, and as long as that’s the case, no petty authoritarian wearing a badge and a costume on some misguided moral crusade will change that.
And in addition, Mark Thronton had some thoughts...
The Washington Post explains that drug legalization in Colorado and Washington, along with Medical Marijuana Legalization in many other states has hurt the illegal marijuana growing business in northern Mexico. However, the Mexican drug cartels have been bailed out by America’s drug warriors who have cracked down on prescription pain killers. Prescription pain killers and heroin are both very addictive and deadly dangerous so that legalization would not only put the cartels out of business, but would open opportunities to address the problems of pain and addiction in a medical format rather than the black market.
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This is a good thing right? http://hedge.ly/RrsXVA
“Government” did that to the numbers racket a while back (lottery).
..pretty soon they will have state stores for women and young girls.. oh, forgot there for a moment .. Likely first, young boys.
What took them so long?
I won't go schizo, will I?
There's a distinct possibility.
It's time to legalize all the drugs. I want to snort cocaine in the morning, and shoot smack in the afternoon. Now go light my hash-pipe, bitches.
Mistress Raindrop
Your continous spamming of your idiotic angrysinners blog under so many fucking names should be grounds for you being hunted and urinated on. Only a nutcase would continue doing this shit.
Your former screen names like The Dunce, Mister Kitty, orez65, etc must have been banned already or you wouldn't need this new one. You're such an asshole that I'm seriously thinking about putting my hacker hat back on and shutting you down.
Well, William Randolph Hearst had a lot to do with it...
I think the gov't is saying "We'll give you your weed and gay marriage so you'll quit bitchin' and be too stoned to care about how we rob your savings & retirement, spy on you and wage war around the world."
Just wondering what Hitler would make of all this 'legalization business'?
Douglas Valentine and Bill Conroy are great sources for a comprehensive understanding of the drug war.
The drug war is intimately tied to international geo-politics.
Manthong - hat tip on linking this song the other day.
With God On Our Side {Live at Town Hall 1963}
Nothing to do with pot but really good. Thanks.
"With God On Our Side"
Fuck that Fat Fuck Christie. ..what an ass. Typical east coast tax and skim politician
Don't forget the scrawny one, Jerry Brown, on the West Coast. This country's malignant politcal cancer is not just endemic to the East Coast.
As a matter of fact, most all politicians are tax and skim sycophants.
seems we humans like altered states of mind..some get it thru exercise some thru hard work, some thru advancing knowledge and creation of useful products some thru art, but it seems a lot of us get it thru drugs,
sex, binge eating, and other perversions not named which are thankfully not common. In the end which of the above are the most selfish? most promoting of society and mental health?? and which are self destructive?
As I have told my family many times..In my life I have never met anyone who was addicted to the common drugs of abuse and was better for it.
added note, I am in the camp of those that think .gov has greatly overstepped it's constitutional restrictions in this abortion of war on drugs and it looks like our most powerful politicians, judges, police are neck deep in the drug business or are bought off ...
Here is reality, not theory. Telling people they can't have or do something only gives it greater allure.
7/05/2011 Ten Years After Decriminalization, Drug Abuse Down by Half in Portugal
http://www.forbes.com/sites/er...
Jul 19, 2012 What Happened When Portugal Decriminalized Drugs?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpFIw_CngUE
Ha! Dug out my Smiling Phases compilation after I saw this which includes 'Light Up or Leave Me Alone'. +420
Prices falling sounds like success to me.
I prefer mine (when I start again) without a tax stamp.
Never liked middlemen anyways ;-)
We had a Spring Tide this morning complete with coastal flooding and part of a bale washed up. I think it's from down your way ;-)
Finders-keepers ;-)
I'm just afraid that .gov is going to screw up my retirement program by too much legalization ;-)
YES!
Speaking of prices the estimate is only for the DEA's budgetary expeditures. In reality the drug war costs the US something like $600+ Billion a year.
Yes, that is Billion with a B. So extrapolate that back at least 10 years when the amount first broke $550 Billion. There are a lot of funds being channeled into the war making industry because of drugs. This is why there is so much resistance against ending the drug war, there are too many digital ones and zeros involved for the idiots to stop it and drop the issue.
One day, if humans make it that far, people will look back at this point in history and feel shame for the crimes and follies of their ancestors. So much idiocy can not be good for the future of humanity, and perhaps that is the for the better.
the really weird thing is; things like weed and opium are banned in just about every country. so it's a worldwide weirdness. one theory is that governments need productive citizens, and recreational drugs generally don't foster 'productive' people.
"one theory is that governments need productive citizens, and recreational drugs generally don't foster 'productive' people."
That IS the theory isn't it?
Bullshit.
Opium, mj, mushrooms, a TOMATO that is reproductive are all one time gigs that don't require you to go to Home Depot to buy next springs tomato plant... Or a BUD LIGHT... Or a VALIUM... Or whatthefuckever the doctor's big pharma employer just required him to prescribe me.
This is profit. This is money.
Planting mj in your garden isn't. And when things get tight neither is a watermelon, let alone one that reproduces.
The term "pipe dream" comes from China. Opium, introduced by the East India company, nearly destroyed a generation in China. People became lazy and lethargic and the government finally outlawed the substance. They're still pissed at the British for that. Meth is all the rage with the elites in N Korea. Go figure. There have been many studies of how illicit and licit adulterants have affected societies. Generally speaking you won't find one that claims it has a good effect on society. Let's face it, drugs and alcohol have wrecked many lives but prohibition has contributed to this as well.
That said, weed is certainly not the same as opium. If it were, we would have already lost a generation or two by now. If cannabis use were to reach epic levels as opium use did in China, I suspect there could be negative societal impacts. But I just don't think that will ever be the case. Most use weed casually with no major impact on their lives. But as with any adulterant, for some, the potential for abuse is always there.
I thought the opium/Chinese history was relevant here but your assessment of course is spot on. When it comes to the war on drugs, money is king.
http://www.drugwarrant.com/articles/why-is-marijuana-illegal/
Actually, that's because the U.S. rammed legislation through the U.N. prohibiting member countries from legalizing drugs.
They don't call it the gateway drug for nothing. It's the gateway for the Fascist dick sucking government to remove people's rights and cripple their lives through the just-us system.
The war on drugs is the biggest domestic "freedom-racket" next to homeland [in]security and the TSA.
No one takes any of it seriously except the retards getting their paychecks. Speaking of Fascist paychecks, if I see you have ever worked for DHS or TSA or any other Federal "alphabit soup" when applying for work I toss your resume/applications in the trash and I encourage every business owner in America to do the same. Think about getting black-listed working for Fascist-Sam before you drink that poison.
Cut the "DEA" and all the other alphabet for profit agencies down.
No one cares about weed. Everyone has smoked weed whether they know it or not, people just need something to fight about.
I'm high right now. I love you.
lol+1
Will no one think of the for-profit prison industry and their contributions to the economic well being of America?
What of the prisons?!
Drug prices in prisons are much higher than on the street, so there's that.
This key understanding -- that drugs are available inside the prisons -- tells one everything he need know about the drug trade, politics and corruption.
"They can't keep drugs out of prison and they look in your ass!" -- Doug Stanhope
Funny how the highest margin drug markets in America are inside the prison industrial complex.
if we can't do it for the children, at least do it for the prison guards and the drug agents.
What's good for CCA is good for America. /s
But, but, if drugs are legalized, how will the Police fund their bloated pensions?
Dammmmm
There goes all hopes of having a police state.
The poor police, yes. [s]
Meanwhile, dumbfuck america will get even stupider. Extract all liberties under the noses of a nation of potheads. Perfect
You failed to mention that the country has already been stolen out from under a culture of alcoholism, but nice try...
Ding! Winner!
How would CIA run black ops?
Uh, they use opium....
Both and all...
Mr. Pickles But, but, if drugs are legalized, how will the Police fund their bloated pensions?
----
There are still many trafffic vilations they can get you on. And since you asked, they will come down harder and make up even more lies that you have to fight.
Community activism. More and more the only answer I see to any of this is community activism. National politics are for politicians. Local politics are for you and the people you care about. Run for school board. Run for mayor. Run for anything but get everyone around you involved too. This is the only way we can ever change anything. Well, except for administering the 2nd amendment, but that should be reserved for when all else fails. Maybe there is still hope locally? How do you wake up a community when "community" has all but been bred out of the population?
On this, I sort of agree, but I am more of an Agorism type of guy than a political one. Politics, even local ones are for people whom can't survive without someone supporting them. They have little to offer society in general, which is why they pretend to be "managers" of "society".
I feel the same way, except then those "managers" get in and well, manage. Now everything is all messed up. It is the people who don't think they should or aren't interested or whatever that should be managing. They would be more practical or pragmatic or something. Hopefully able to recognize just how messed up things are.
There was a time people did these things as a service to the community rather than a stepping stone to the next position.
That is what smart phones are for. Just secretly turn on the recorder and be polite when stopped. If you have a problem, you end up with evidence.
ZH could have an "adopt an executioner" online fundraiser and train cops to operate the guillotines?
right click > 'Set As Desktop...'
They'll be re-assigned - busting "troublemakers"- who tweet and blog "seditious" material.
Do you mean the Libertarians were right????
Hmmmm
Q: Why did the libertarian cross the road?
A: None of your damn business. Am I being detained?
If Rinat Akhmetov (The Ukrainian John Gotti of business extortion, child prostitution, coal, coke, steel and anything else he can steal) had the Mexican pot concession, any American politician who even thought about legalization would have died the next day from something.
Of course the fact that Rinat Akhmetov is a stone cold butcher who exterminated the owner of any business he wanted is now of no consequence to Vickie Nuland as long as he keeps the pro-Nazi goons on the street.
Side note - as far as illustrating criminal scumbag factor, use John Corzine instead of John Gotti. Its the preferred nomenclature now Dude.
Mainly because Corzine did not die in jail, has never seen the inside of a jail and has not yet assumed room temperature.
I'm just glad that somebody finally explained why unicorns fart rainbows!
Pretty sure no one in CO is envious of that New Jersey quality of life fatboy sounds so proud of....
Time to go to confession
Mmmm... weed.
Toke On
Open up the borders so DEA and ICE lose new budget plans. It’s the Kenya negro in office..
Opening the borders is a fine idea if, and only if, the drug war is ended and the entitlements are taken away. All of which sound pretty good to me.
"Opening the borders is a fine idea....."
It's a great idea if you would like to fuck your fellow citizens and the millions of illegals as well. What happens to a stock when a company releases more shares? It dilutes the stock and the price go's down. Same principle here. Open borders is only good for the elites. Notice they only talk about open southern borders.
3 negative ICE and DEA peeps are in trouble. You lose in trying to fuck the system. You just released the prison fucks so you can keep your job. Again, Keep your job.. Build a new police force to chase down the same fucks you released. IMHO. How can we correct this mistake? Does Eric Holder send you daily emails?
I predicted the thread title "Epiphany" years ago. Common sense is better than a college education.
alas, epiphanies sometime don't come easy. I wish the honest folks that are rising up now would have recognized the danger 7 years ago.
The challenge now, in Mexico at least, is to keep their Tea Party/Occupy/NWO resistance from being coopted by the scumbags:
http://www.borderlandbeat.com/2014/05/the-militarization-of-tamaulipas-a...
You lost me at the mention of A CNBC study.
All the "Cartel" has to do is get some straight guys to front for business licenses, then they are back.
lakecity55 All the "Cartel" has to do is get some straight guys to front for business licenses, then they are back.
----
Which cartel, the Mexican's or the US state government?
I thought they were both the same.
Bath House: "Envelope's a bit light this week, Joe."
Shotgun Joe: "Damn legalization, Boss. Sales are off everywhere."
"Call those idiots at DEA. Tell them we need something else made illegal!"
"Right away, Boss."
The issue is not just "who supplies" but profit margin.
Nice use of NLP.
(Or in NLP speak):
To me that's a nice use of NLP we have found here. ;)
"To me, it’s just not the quality of life we want to have here"
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/focus-forgiveness/201309/are-you-bei...
good catch Muc---+1
No shock..and probably lowering crime and murder rates across the board as well..those crazy libertarians for wanting to remove the incentive from a black market which leads to more crime, incarceration and tax later expenditure on prosecution and investigation.
All wars are there for someone's benefit... War on terror, drugs, etc...
Colorado is an overpopulated shithole.
avoid at all costs..
;
let's see, so 2/3 of young black men will no longer be arrested in CO for non violent drug offenses, which will greatly help the black community, most likely reducing violent crime in the mid to long term, the mexican drug cartels are going broke, the DEA is throwing a hissy fit and showing the country their ineptitude, christie christy is making himself seem like an even fatter, more stupid asshole, and tax revenue is up. i think i'll smoke a bowl.
How are those young black men going to make a living now?
I hear McDonalds is paying $15/hour.
And I hear that food sales are up in Colorado these days.
"If you look at the drug war from a purely economic point of view, the role of the government is to protect the cartel." -- Milton Friedman
If they had legalized pot in San Diego when I was living there as a young man there would have been a flood of jobless farmers and ex-cartel henchmen streaming across the border to pick tomatoes. Would not be surprised if there were smuggling routes named after me and my buddies....
The DEA doesnt know what to do with itself? Suggestion. Follow the bankers off the top of a tall building. Parachutes prohibited.
What'ya got against nailguns? :>D
It's disgusting that people pine for weed to be legalized and taxed.
What's so ineffable about legalizing. Period.
that's right. just burn all of the drug laws. erase the drug laws. no drug laws for the win! drug laws are just a gateway for handwringers to lord over the rest of us.
No, it's completely rational. The government taxes alcohol, and tobacco and even chocolate. No tax, no legalisation. Period.
Will the price go up? Sure. Will the cost to society go down? Absolutely! Will the police divert resources to solving burglaries and murders instead of terrorising pot smokers? Maybe.
Oh, and fuck Wackenhut!
I was the only juror in S Ga who said not guilty on drug possession. Trial by peers. The war on drugs is a disguised war on Liberty
Thank you for your public service. Required reading for prospective jurors:
http://fija.org/
Wait until the sheep find out just how EASY weed is to grow--indoors or outdoors.
Weed is incredibly easy and cheap to grow---and I mean high quality weed.
The war on weed is just so fucking dumb it's hard to comprehend.
Who gives a fuck what Christie thinks. Have another donut Chris. You fat fucking slob.
I'm stealing the unicorn picture.
The war on drugs has grown too large to ever shut down. Tens of thousands of high paid jobs for underachievers who have found a home as government employees. From the city, county, state and federal levels, so many depend on the drug wars for their livings. Not only direct employees, but a whole host of contractors and equipment providers. Drug wars are a major growth industry, once it was created, a whole class of people built up around it to support it politically. No politician dares to been labeled soft on drugs by their opponent, and anyone trying to reduce drug war spending will be taken to pieces in the press, underneath the attacks will be cop unions, government contractors and others who draw their livings from drug wars.
America is incapable of change, incapable to making reforms. Once a constituency builds up around any government spending programs, they will fight like mad dogs to maintain the spending that puts money in their pockets. Any mention of reducing drug crimes to minor infractions, or sending addicts to treatment instaed of prison, produces wild howls of rage from prison guard unions, cop unions, contractor's trade associations and others who have found a way to tap into this government spending on drug wars.
Too much money, too much power, too many jobs go to people who live a good life off of tax payers money, taken from us to wage a war most of us don't want. Making everything a crime means that there are more criminals, more criminals means a need for more government. More cops, more jailers more judges and lawyers. Too many people work for the drug warriors culture, it is a major American industry.
I would have agreed with you until recently, but now there is unthwarted legalization in Colorado. Soon to be replicated in other states, no doubt. How does the enforcement wing of the War on Drugs survive this? Full-scale invasion of the legalizing states?
A lot cheaper to just buy politicians
You ain't seen nothing yet, watch when someone(s) tries to legalize smack or cocaine!
There is no real constituency for hard drugs, but MJ now has a huge mass of people who either smoke it, have smoked it, know others who smoke it, and realize that criminalization is far worse than making it legal.
Public acceptance is rapidly reaching critical mass. Who would have thought 10 or 15 years ago that we would be seeing legal same sex marriage beecome common?
Once enough voters are on board, the politicians and the courts will follow. I do whole heartedly agree that the vested interests have fought legalization as hard as they could, and will continue to fight it, but also think they have the losing side. Eventually, we may actually get reality based, common sense legislation that treats addition as disease instead of creating ever more criminals of our citizens with medical/mental issues.
So...no unicorns? :(
One more reason to institute a guaranteed income for all citizens.
But wait, does that mean cops will have to go get real jobs and stop sucking off the government tit?
Don't you know by now they will just create a new drug or new enemy...
The Kerry and Forbes families are still the leading illegal global drug cartels.
Pharmaceuticals bring in more money and the products are becoming oh so much more competitive with the illegal stuff.
But take from one who knows, nothing can compare with the natural highs both mental and physical that you get from exercise and meditation.
Ok ok except for maybe some dynomite acid.
Ketchup is really bad shit, but really 57 not even close to 420! - Ned
{natural highs heeeee}
Ironically, I heard an ad for some drug on TV this morning. I was not paying much attention so don't know what the drug was, but the possible bad side efects went on and on. Then, what really caught my atention was at the very end.....first perscription was FREE.
First class legalized drug pushers, working hard to get you addicted.
Regulatory agencies are always captured by the strongest of the special interests they purport to "regulate". The DEA is no exception.
Its not an unalloyed good. Another reason foir the shepple to go sedentary is, hmm, not exactly where we want to go. And, in downtown Denver area, you can smell marijuana every 10 minutes.
But any blow against state control is a blow for freedom.
The only problem in Colorado seems to be that the retailers of weed are unable to use any part of the banking system that is controled by the Fed...I know that Colorado passed a bill earlier this month to create basically a Credit Union for pot retailers, but federal approval is still needed. Hmm, wonder who will win the banking fight? Colorado wants to audit the pot tax, and DEA wants to protect their budget. Perhaps USDA needs guns to police pot farming?
Yet HSBC was able to launder billionz in still illegal trug trade...The hypocrisy stinks all the way to Neptune!
"...create basically a Credit Union for pot retailers, but federal approval is still needed."
Why is everyone stuck on this insane idea that you must beg permission from bureaucratic vermin before going about your business?
+420!!!
so we come into the 2014 mid terms with drug money in a quandary with itself. should it support the democrats for amnesty? should it support the republicans to keep the false war on drugs inplace? oh what to do, why can't corruption have it both ways?
Corruption can have it both ways. Just like most politically active major corporations, they will suport both sides.....and influence either side that wins.
Same with the LA sheriffs office (I think it was) coming out against a California pot legalization initiative in 2012, either because it would cut required police work, or because they were simply bribed by the cartels.
I've never heard that cops themselves were not prime consumers of the product, and maybe that's a good thing.
The States are legalizing pot. The Feds are still pissing money down a hole on the Drug War (and almost everything you can think of). The Feds have also galvanized the captive media to demonize pot lest their funding for spraying Agent Orange over 1/2 of SA been cut.
Well, the Feds CAN'T legalize any drugs, by international law (that we wrote and rammed through the U.N. in the first place). Sovereignty, shmovereignty. However, they could at least de-crim and put the "drug war" at the very bottom of the enforcement priority list (e.g. Amsterdam).
They won't though, they have a police state and a prison industrial complex to run.
Christie is simply letting the marijuana lobby know that he hasn't been receiving his checks.
Why is it that "Skittle Shitting" unicorns don't run in packs/herds Tyler?
Flashback to 1984: Back when I was younger and stupid, I used to smoke weed. Every week I would get an oz from a guy at work for $35. Big, fat, four finger bag of Columbian gold, $25 to $30 for peppery mexican. Suddenly one week, the price of the weed had doubled. I asked him why, and if this was just a temporary thing. He had no answers, just that that was the price. I'll never forget what he said next:"I know it's expensive, but I can get you all the coke you want REALLY CHEAP." That was the end of my high times for the most part, aside from an occasional toke off of somebodys joint. But understand this: Somebody or somebodies, decided to steer people away from pot, and onto coke. There were several reasons for this that I will not elaborate on here, but yes, where there is smoke, there is fire. BTW, how much is an OZ nowadays? Talk about inflation!
I remember that time around '84. Same price you saw $35/oz . And like you the price skyrocketed over the next couple years. to $160/oz where I lived!
Guys in the business that I knew back then couldn't explain it. They just said that the price in South Florida "was what it was". Pay it or fuck off.
That's when a lot of people decided to grow indoors.
Here in WA state, we see credit card companies not wanting to do business with medical marijuana clinics and providers, essentially forcing them to be cash-only operations, which has some serious downsides.
Christie is a tool, enough said. The vast majority of Americans want legal pot. It eventually it is going to happen on a national level, if for no other reason than they have to allow the population some kind of mental escape from all the fucked up shit that is in store.
Fucked up shit in your head, cash only is how markets work, credit is for slaves dumbfuck, with the caveat of if you can get first use of QE money at .0001% interest, then it is good business.
I think the point he was making went straight over your head dumbfuck.
Not really, still trying to understand what the downside of cash only is? Maybe you can explain the downsides to a simpleton like me.
Robbery is one downside, especially if you get killed in the process
Dumbfuck
If you are a cash only business,who is to say what your taxable income is? Just say'in.
So Anyways, {true story} I'm in Target today. I'm looking for some sembance of an 52" inch wide window blind for my "guest house "window.(outside mount)
I got nothing and liked it. So, I go to Home Despot and look for the same blinds. Not only are they twice the advertized price, they're NOT verticle blinds.
I talk to the rookie, and get sent to the "Kitchen Ware" back of store section.
I'm not stupid. At this point I'm ready to destroy anything!
I tuck my tail behind my legs and say, "Ill get you next time!
Sound familiar Bitchez?
Yen: After 30 years of supplying Home Despots and other asshole stores on a wholesale level, all I can say is... "I can't help you"... and I feel much better.
Keep your stick on the ice and never look down or you'll get slammed into the boards.
Finally, common sense has returned to a few brave communities. May it spread like a virus. That which is outlawed is valuable to many; that which is cheap is valued by a few but usually is low on the "cool" scale.
How's this for DEA hypocrisy? You can't get a buzz off of hemp so WTF? Whose ox is being gored here?
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2014/05/16/kentucky-takes-dea-to-cou...
Remember the Oligarcs have many tools in their shed, most are expendable, as long as the goal is acheived!
Christy is just another tool that is hoping to get a reward for his actions of betrayal of the American Citizen.
Hey, I'm for the so-called "drug legalization" when you give out the real story. How about making it a deniable condition for receiving Obamacare if you have anything caused from Marijuana? Also just wait until we start to see conditions covered under TANF, OASDHI and other welfareprograms due to chronic Marijuana usage. So if Marijuana use is so wonderful, why do we ban tobacco products? I DEMAND that I be allowed by statute to smoke in a restaurant! Want my dancing box of cigarrettes! This is only going to screw up the USA!
Nicotine is a lot more addictive and harmful than Cannabis, from a health perspective nicotine should be illegal and cannabis legal.
What business is it of government how I choose to kill myself? Quick point, nobody gets out of the Matrix alive. If you want to drink too much or run your cholesterol up what business is it of mine? Just don’t ask me you pay for your excesses. Next time you get all infatuated with the virtues of long life visit a nursing home.
Trust me when the quality of life goes down the crapper a short quick heart attack is a blessing
I agree with you, Nicotine does not improve your quality of life and I'm not talking about the physical effects, nicotine causes anxiety which destroys your ability to be truly happy and relaxed, the more you smoke the worse it gets.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15011738
About nicotine dependence, this substance full fills all the criteria for dependence and withdrawal syndrome. There are some people that have more vulnerability for to become nicotine dependent, those are psychiatric patients. Among them schizophrenia, major depression, anxiety disorders and attention deficit disorder, represent the best example in this area.
What do you get from Marijuana? Other than the munchies and sleepy, that is.
something has to be done about these hippie radical, pot smoking losers! new york is already suffering severely from being lax on criminals. the state has closed a good number of prisons with more to come as the prison population gets smaller every year. there are millions of dollars on the line that support local economies with the only industry that pays enough to buy a new car. if crimes are decriminalized then criminals will be walking the streets while good hard working americans will on the street collecting food stamps and selling their bodies for money.
wait untill the judges and lawyers see how much they are needed when the drug court gravy train, trainer of a million asst das and the court appointed club, ends. they will fight for the american way and save all these jobs.
Of course the DEA is pro illegal drugs, its their job, no more illegal Cannabis means budget cuts and redundancy, jobs will be protected at all costs.
so we, shouldnt legalize public spanking?
All those millions of lives destroyed by prosecution of people with a little bit of Cannabis, because after you have a drug conviction lots of doors in life close to you, on the bright side it keeps the DEA, lawyers, Judges and police in jobs.
It is quite incredible, Colorado legalizes Cannabis and it didn't instantly turn into a Mad Max version of hell on earth like the law enforcement propaganda always told us it would....the law enforcement agencies wouldn't be full of shit by any chance?
Flashback to 1984: Back when I was younger and stupid, I used to smoke weed. Every week I would get an oz from a guy at work for $35. Big, fat, four finger bag of Columbian gold, $25 to $30 for peppery mexican. Suddenly one week, the price of the weed had doubled. I asked him why, and if this was just a temporary thing. He had no answers, just that that was the price. I'll never forget what he said next:"I know it's expensive, but I can get you all the coke you want REALLY CHEAP." That was the end of my high times for the most part, aside from an occasional toke off of somebodys joint. But understand this: Somebody or somebodies, decided to steer people away from pot, and onto coke. There were several reasons for this that I will not elaborate on here, but yes, where there is smoke, there is fire. BTW, how much is an OZ nowadays? Talk about inflation!
The bud biz will succeed because that's where the money is now. Would rather get it more 'freely' than to let someone add me to a gov database for it, but this movement is a start.
Frequent interesting stuff on DailyBell about the mj _biz_:
http://dailybell.com/editorials/35287/Anthony-Wile-Marijuana-Whats-Drivi...
http://www.thedailybell.com/exclusive-interviews/35288/Anthony-Wile-Rob-...
(I have no affiliation with them)
The prison 'business' won't be liking it either as its percentage 'occupancy rates' will drop below profitability.
DavidC
(and, yes, that's /sarc)
The War on Drugs is a never ending river of money/jobs/pensions/prestige flowing towards the people tasked with fighting it...
The War of Terror is a never ending river of money/jobs/pensions/presitge flowing towards the people tasked with fighting it...
I wish the sheeple would realise this. I wish they'd fully understand that at least $2 TRILLION has beenb spent over the years and it will soon be more. And are drugs cheaper or harder to get, of course not, it's the opposite. What about the threat of terrorism, has it been reduced or are there now more terrorists than before?
In the last decade, due almost solely to the surge in drug-related arrests, U.S. prisons are massively overcrowded and underfunded. The rehabilitation aspect of incarceration is slim to nil. Marijuana constitutes almost half of all drug arrests, and between 1990–2002, marijuana accounted for 82% of the increase in the number of drug arrests.
In 2004, approximately 12.7% of state prisoners and 12.4% of Federal prisoners were serving time for a marijuana-related offense. Today more than ever, the fear that President Carter voiced in 1977 that penalties for drugs are doing more damage than drugs themselves rings true. The article below looks deeper into Carters views and the effect the war on druds has had on America.
http://brucewilds.blogspot.com/2013/09/war-on-drugs-is-far-too-costly.ht...
Got to stop dropping drones on wedding parties, not every group of people congregating in one place outside the US or driving in a convoy of more than three cars are terrorists.
A recent Pew Research Center poll found that for the first time a majority of Americans favor legalizing the use of marijuana. Indiana Governor Mike Pence is not among them. With the rest of the United States moving towards relaxing marijuana laws, Indiana seems to be bravely marching into the past. The Hoosier State's penalties for marijuana are getting tougher after Gov. Mike Pence requested, and was granted stricter laws for low-level cannabis offenders. They have gone so far as proposing that felony charges for possession be extended down to cover one-third of an ounce of marijuana, More on how tough Indiana has become in the article below.
http://brucewilds.blogspot.com/2013/07/indiana-marijuana-laws-step-back-...