Grand Closing: America’s Pot Farmers Are Putting Mexican Cartels Out of Business

There is a long way to go before a true and lasting impact will be made against the cartels. Even though Colorado has legalized recreational use, these are "cash only" businesses, and very likely to be taken over by the same people who were under the table prior.

Credit card companies won't do business with the businesses, and the banks sure won't. Until it is legal on the federal level, the 'legal" aspect is only in application to arrests by local police. We even had our talking to about how as federal employees we should understand that any future plans to visit Colorado should not include engaging in what is still a federal crime.

a reply to: benrl

Im all about a vice tax, get rid of income tax, low flat tax on all goods high tax on vices. - See more at: www.abovetopsecret.com...

Would that include reinstating the "luxury" tax?
It's a "vice", in my opinion, to hoard money off-shore and take advantage of ridiculous loopholes.
If they're going to let the uber-wealthy off the hook, let the common people off the hook, too.

a reply to: usernameconspiracy

We even had our talking to about how as federal employees we should understand that any future plans to visit Colorado should not include engaging in what is still a federal crime.

Baby steps.

a reply to: benrl

Anything that lessons the power of cartels is a good thing.

The worst problem and thing about drugs is cartels and organized crime. And prohibition always seems to feed them. Make what you will of that.

Or governments dont seem able to grasp that to fight a war on organized crime is allot different to fighting a war on drugs.

originally posted by: BuzzyWigs
a reply to: benrl

Im all about a vice tax, get rid of income tax, low flat tax on all goods high tax on vices. - See more at: www.abovetopsecret.com...

Would that include reinstating the "luxury" tax?
It's a "vice", in my opinion, to hoard money off-shore and take advantage of ridiculous loopholes.
If they're going to let the uber-wealthy off the hook, let the common people off the hook, too.

a flat tax would close all the loop holes, you spend, you pay.

for corporations and individuals, theres no way to run from it.

It seals the loop holes that the Rich find in Estate Tax law for one.

The whole point of the estate tax IS REDISTRIBUTION of wealth to help balance the scales and prevent generational wealth, yet there are PLENTY of ways around it, so much that the people who get hit with it are not the intended targets of it.

Its one of the reasons a Flat tax has never been implemented and gets lobbied against. ( the rich do not want tax law reform, the more complex the better.)

originally posted by: SaturnFX

Fair enough, your a classic liberal then.

I have issue with harder drug talks. I do think full decriminalization is in order and it treated like an addiction verses a crime is in order though. Many countries do it this way and have substantially less drug addiction than the states...but yes, such personal vices should be legal, taxed, regulated, safe.


-religious rant-
Jesus sat and befriended a prostitute, working with her personally on her life choices, not going to the leaders and demand it be made illegal.
Wonder why Christians choose not to be christlike here and let people decide for themselves.
Muslims..well I just give up on them, they are socially living 500 years in the past ..but Christians, I think they can be reasonable

Portugal decriminalized all drugs and a perfect example of what you say, they saw a Decrease in Addiction and Crime, and an INCREASE in treatment, voluntary.

Turns out when you make a Person with a PROBLEM a criminal, it just makes the whole thing worse.

The thing that gets missed is what an amazing plant Hemp is.

Forget the medicinal aspects.

It saves trees. Makes great paper, sandals, rope, oil ...

Hemp grows wild in Oklahoma and many other states.

Nobody...and I mean nobody tries to harvest it for recreational use.

The Hemp plant has as many different species as oranges or apples.

a reply to: SaturnFX

Fair enough, your a classic liberal then.

Now, now...
We just want to seen for what we are. I am a lot like FF. I have so many stances that make me a liberal in conservative eyes and so many that make me a conservative in liberal eyes... when taken one at time. I am proud not to be in either one of those categories.

originally posted by: whyamIhere
The thing that gets missed is what an amazing plant Hemp is.

Forget the medicinal aspects.

It saves trees. Makes great paper, sandals, rope, oil ...

Hemp grows wild in Oklahoma and many other states.

Nobody...and I mean nobody tries to harvest it for recreational use.

The Hemp plant has as many different species as oranges or apples.

Its funny, there is more genetic diversity in that plant than in DOGS.

My father has been in the PAPER industry his whole life, one of the things he always said was the day HEMP is harvested for commercial use, his field is screwed.

a reply to: whyamIhere

The thing that gets missed is what an amazing plant Hemp is.

Yes, and it was one of the crops that the original 'pilgrims/settlers' here grew. It has been demonized, and that is ridiculous.

HEMP FACTS

1) Hemp is among the oldest industries on the planet, going back more than 10,000 years to the beginnings of pottery. The Columbia History of the World states that the oldest relic of human industry is a bit of hemp fabric dating back to approximately 8,000 BC.

2) Presidents Washington and Jefferson both grew hemp. Americans were legally bound to grow hemp during the Colonial Era and Early Republic. The federal government subsidized hemp during the Second World War and US farmers grew about a million acres of hemp as part of that program.

And many other points made here:Hemp - Could Save America

and here:

Where did all of that hemp fiber come from? It came from the cannabis sativa fields of patriotic Revolutionary War-era farmers who originally grew the fibrous crop for the British Crown. Strong fibers formed strong nations in the pre-industrial age, and hemp was strategically important during the Revolutionary War.

Yet, hemp is no longer purposefully grown in the U.S. in any significant amount. The forgotten history of this lowly “ditch weed” – now hugely important as a food for migratory birds – reveals that hemp was an important crop from Colonial times through World War II, when it was last widely planted across the country for the war effort.



Read more: www.farmcollector.com...

a reply to: benrl

I do Not believe for one second as the article makes out, that the cartels were happily chatting with the Washington Post.

People seem to talk about these cartels as if they were a legit business. That is stupid but misleading on purpose as to lessen the threat we face from the cartels. It's by design.

Now all these cartels have to do is storm the border states and declare war on America's legal weed trade.

The cartels will win. They can destroy US. We already know none of our feds will do anything to stop them. I believe this is also by design. Otherwise we would have labeled them the Terrorist they are and dealt with these stupid thugs long ago.

Hey Zetas, hey Gulf Cartels.. Up Yours, you sorry excuses for sub human lumps of Crap. Catch me if ya can, my guns are loaded and i ain't afraid of you - garbage.

( yeah i try to insult them but I doubt they even speak Spanish much less English.. I've seen their videos.. mostly they just kinda grunt and mimic sounds. I think they like the pictures too.)

Not everyone is pleased with the resent results of the people voting for what they think is right for their state:

Well, the clock’s ticking on Drug Enforcement Administration Chief Michele Leonhart. She's saying her anti-marijuana agency is “fighting back” against White House instructions to focus on heroin and OxyContin deaths, and leave alone lawful cannabis activity in Colorado and Washington. "[President Obama’s instructions] make us fight harder”, Leonhart told a House Appropriations subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies today.

www.eastbayexpress.com...

I have always felt the governments misinformation on marijuana made cannabis much more effective as a gateway drug, and it surely adds to the distrust of our Government!

I predict as the cartels branch out into gun smuggling, human trafficking, organ harvesting, illegal mining and logging fed geniuses will regroup and renew the prohibition line as a "lesser evil" lest we risk the cartels joining Al-CIA-da in this Post 9/11 World®.

a reply to: thisguyrighthere

gun smuggling

With each new gun law that passes in the US, that market will be more and more attractive for them.

a reply to: benrl

It would seem, that Capitalism, and the Free market, works, when Government steps out of the way and stops trying to Nanny state us all, Crime actually goes down.

This is actually part of the intention of the marijuana decriminalization law that both Washington and Colorado have adopted. Make it legal and the black market will fade away.

originally posted by: benrl

Criminals LOVE prohibition.

The article ends with a slightly slanted statement, though I feel its true.

So now we have both the DEA and cartel farmers both screaming bloody murder about legalization — sounds like we're on the right track.

looks like criminals arent the ONLY ones that love prohibition.

Cui Bono? who benefits from the drug war? Cartels AND DEA. they BOTH get MONEY and POWER!

originally posted by: HanzHenry

originally posted by: benrl

Criminals LOVE prohibition.

The article ends with a slightly slanted statement, though I feel its true.

So now we have both the DEA and cartel farmers both screaming bloody murder about legalization — sounds like we're on the right track.

looks like criminals arent the ONLY ones that love prohibition.

Cui Bono? who benefits from the drug war? Cartels AND DEA. they BOTH get MONEY and POWER!

Not to mention how great it works against the 4th amendment,

Prohibition started the Death of it, Patriot act just finished it.

originally posted by: BuzzyWigs
a reply to: usernameconspiracy

We even had our talking to about how as federal employees we should understand that any future plans to visit Colorado should not include engaging in what is still a federal crime.

Baby steps.

Beautifully put! Washington and Colorado are carving out a new path hopefully for the rest to follow. Decriminalizing marijuana is proving to be the simple part by comparison. There are a myriad state laws and regulations that have to all be changed and this is turning out to be a legal nightmare. It will take quite some time and many mistakes will unfortunately be made. I hope that we will learn quickly.

Did you know weed from British Columbia cost at least three to four times as much depending how far the weed is being smuggled from B.C to which ever state. So if pot was more legal in the states, it would loss it appreciation and smuggling value in the black market, just like how the Drug Cartels south of the continent would loss out too.

Whomever smuggled it, whether it be the biker gangs, or Cartel members would be devastated by legalization of it, of something that just needs some time, water and sunlight to sold readily.
They would have to rely on much cheaper, manufactured, harder drugs instead, that most likely wouldn't show up on piss test. They probably would have a boosted price range on it to equalize their lost revenue that they made of readily available pot.

Plus, due to increase of pot growers and smokers, less cops would be needed, and certainly not those expensive piss tests.

a reply to: benrl

All drugs should be legalized. The OP correctly highlights, we learned this lesson with alcohol. If drugs are illegal, it creates this culture of "dirty little secrets," makes men and women more vulnerable to trying them, and you know the rest...

This world is very backwards thinking. It's a shame.