Legal US Weed Is Killing Mexican Drug Cartels

Legal US Weed Is Killing Drug Cartels

http://dailycaller.com/2015/02/09/legal-marijuana-drug-cartels/

Here is an excerpt from this article, which originated in the uber-rightwing news blog, The Daily Caller:

The growth of the U.S. marijuana industry has devastated drug cartels in Mexico, evidenced by fewer seizures of cannabis at the border and, according to Mexican security forces, a drop in total homicides and domestic marijuana production rates.

Mexican drug cartels are finding it difficult to compete in the cannabis market not only in terms of price, but also quality, given that the U.S. industry is starting to label products according to THC content, CNBC reports. According to The ArcView Group, a cannabis research firm, the marijuana industry in the U.S. grew 74 percent in just one year, up from $1.5 billion in 2013 to $2.7 billion in 2014.

Marijuana from Mexico, on the other hand, is often mass-produced in less than ideal conditions, with no guarantee as to the safety of the product.

Advocates who initially pushed for legalization in Washington and Colorado have argued strenuously in the past that increased access to marijuana in the U.S. would mean a decline in drug-related violence and revenue for the cartels in Mexico.

In further news, weed is one step away from becoming legalized in Mexico.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/hannah-hetzer/mexico-marijuana-legalization_b_8399712.html

Also Ohio and that could shape things to come:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/11/03/ohio-could-legalize-marijuana-on-tuesday-it-could-also-change-the-entire-legalization-game/

On Tuesday, Ohio could become the fifth state to legalize recreational marijuana.

But the story line there is less about how a culturally conservative state feels about pot and more about how a group of savvy political and business operatives are forging a new path forward for the growing movement that could fundamentally change who gets in the game -- and why.

Depending on what happens in Ohio, the next iteration of pro-legalization activists could be motivated by an entirely different kind of green: Cash.

Here's what you need to know about Ohio's unusual ballot initiative to legalize pot and how it could change the marijuana legalization movement.

It's not your average legalization campaign

There are a lot of firsts in Ohio, actually. If it legalizes recreation marijuana, Ohio would be the first Midwestern state and the first privately organized legalization campaign, notes Denver-based journalist Josiah M. Hesse in a Politico magazine piece.

It's also the first state to try to legalize recreational and medical marijuana at once. (States like Colorado and Washington already had a medical marijuana infrastructure in place when they expanded to recreational pot.)

But it's what happens after legalization that really sets Ohio's initiative apart. Cultivating and selling pot would be limited to 10 pre-determined farms. Any pot distributor in Ohio would have no choice but to buy marijuana grown from one of these farms. In essence, it's a marijuana monopoly.

Also unusual is the legalization campaign's blunt end game (see what we did there?). It's a constitutional amendment backed and financed almost exclusively by those who stand to benefit from its passage.

[6 questions about the future of pot legalization]

It's backed by Ohio pop culture stars

The owners of the 10 farms include a grab-bag group of 24 investors that include former 98 Degrees boy-band crooner Nick Lachey, as well as descendants of former president William Howard Taft and NBA star Oscar Robertson. If the amendment is approved, they'll be ground-floor investors in a business that advocates estimate will bring in $1 billion a year.

Each ownership group was asked to invest roughly $2 to $4 million in the ResponsibleOhio campaign advocating for legalization.

And that's precisely the problem, say a diverse group of opponents that includes marijuana legalization advocates, who are joining forces with the usual cast of opponents like law enforcement officers. Ohio's constitution could soon basically enshrine these people's rights to make money, explains The Washington Post's Jessica Contrera.

The idea is so controversial that, in July, state lawmakers threw their own ballot initiative out there to counter this one. Known as the "anti-monopoly amendment," it would ban anyone from creating a constitutional amendment exclusively for financial gain.

If both pass -- a possibility -- this whole drama could go to the courts.

Supporters say the private-sector-driven initiative is the only way they could get a conservative-leaning state to even consider legalizing pot.

The brainchild of the initiative is veteran Ohio political operative Ian James, who has 30 years of experience in Ohio politics but little track record in the way of drug legalization. James has zeroed in on the traditional arguments for legalizing pot -- civil liberties, social justice, tax benefits -- and stayed away from the controversial layout of Ohio's potential pot industry.

"Let's stop pretending either that Ohioans don't consume marijuana or that only bad people do," he wrote in one of several op-eds during the spring.

[Marijuana could improve my teen son's life. But we won't know until it's legal]

Opponents, unsurprisingly, are calling to attention to the unique set-up.

"They are creating a constitutionally mandated oligopoly,” argues Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance.

Despite Nadelmann's statement, the New York Times reports that the Marijuana Policy Project and Drug Policy Alliance are officially neutral on the initiative, while the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws "gave it an uneasy endorsement."

ZVUGKTUBM wrote:Legal US Weed Is Killing Drug Cartels

http://dailycaller.com/2015/02/09/legal-marijuana-drug-cartels/

]Here is an excerpt from this article, which originated in the uber-rightwing news blog, [i]The Daily Caller:

The growth of the U.S. marijuana industry has devastated drug cartels in Mexico, evidenced by fewer seizures of cannabis at the border and, according to Mexican security forces, a drop in total homicides and domestic marijuana production rates.

Mexican drug cartels are finding it difficult to compete in the cannabis market not only in terms of price, but also quality, given that the U.S. industry is starting to label products according to THC content, CNBC reports. According to The ArcView Group, a cannabis research firm, the marijuana industry in the U.S. grew 74 percent in just one year, up from $1.5 billion in 2013 to $2.7 billion in 2014.

Marijuana from Mexico, on the other hand, is often mass-produced in less than ideal conditions, with no guarantee as to the safety of the product.

Advocates who initially pushed for legalization in Washington and Colorado have argued strenuously in the past that increased access to marijuana in the U.S. would mean a decline in drug-related violence and revenue for the cartels in Mexico.

Yes, they have slowed their production of marijuana and started producing more hard drugs! What a plan!

I am not sure but I think most folks just want a little buzz not the meth look...

Merkel has bought into the Bill O'Reilly reefer madness school of thought.
That once you smoke marijuana,  you all of a sudden get a craving for crack and hillbilly crack (meth) and heroin and all the rest.

If Bill O'Reilly wasn't an egomaniacal blowhard and had any actual integrity,  he would be ranting about all the millions of people who are addicted to those fucking prescription painkillers (aka recreational drugs) that foot a big part of the bill for his salary and the salaries of all the other egomaniacal tv blowhards.

Oh and by the way,  that's another thing the Koch Brothers are proponents of,  markle.  They say the so-called "war on drugs" is a bunch of bullshit same as I do.

Ohio turned it down in a 2 to 1 landslide.

If it won't fly in Ohio,  don't expect it to happen in Florida in your and my lifetime,  ppaca.
Bill O'Reilly and merkle and ignorance and brainwashing win.

Bob wrote:Ohio turned it down in a 2 to 1 landslide.

If it won't fly in Ohio,  don't expect it to happen in Florida in your and my lifetime,  ppaca.
Bill O'Reilly and merkle and ignorance and brainwashing win.

Yep I just saw that, but it was one sided, it was going to create a monopoly of 10 across the state and I saw some of the comments from people who really wanted it but voted no because of the monopoly.

Medicinal will pass here next time, probably not the legal.

ppaca wrote:
Yep I just saw that, but it was one sided, it was going to create a monopoly of 10 across the state and I saw some of the comments from people who really wanted it but voted no because of the monopoly.

Yes that was odd as hell.  I noticed that before the vote,  they earmarked some sports stars and other celebrities to be the only ones who would profit from growing it.  I have no clue what the reasoning on that was,  do you?

Bob wrote:

ppaca wrote:
Yep I just saw that, but it was one sided, it was going to create a monopoly of 10 across the state and I saw some of the comments from people who really wanted it but voted no because of the monopoly.

Yes that was odd as hell.  I noticed that before the vote,  they earmarked some sports stars and other celebrities to be the only ones who would profit from growing it.  I have no clue what the reasoning on that was,  do you?

Why, yes, Bob, I do. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

True.  Everything that happens in this country is always about money.
But I'm trying to figure out why the proponents of this thing would think giving all the profits to celebrities would help it pass. 
Could the reasoning be that they actually thought the voters would believe only celebrities would be honest marijuana businessmen and the voters don't trust anybody else?
Can anybody say the initials "OJ".  lol