Pubdate: Sun, 21 Dec 2014
Source: Tulsa World (OK)
Copyright: 2014 World Publishing Co.
Contact:  http://www.tulsaworld.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/463
Author: Randy Krehbiel
Page: A1

OFFICIALS: COLORADO POT HITS IN STATE

Large Amounts of the Stronger Marijuana Are Arriving, Officials Say.

Legal retail sales of marijuana in Colorado have had a definite if 
indirect impact on Oklahoma law enforcement agencies, a spokesman for 
the Oklahoma Board of Narcotics and Dangerous Drug Control said.

"We are seeing collateral effects," said Mark Woodward. "It is a big 
deal because the marijuana coming out of Colorado is so much more 
powerful than what we've seen in the past."

Woodward said the OBNDDC supports Attorney General Scott Pruitt's 
decision to join Nebraska's Jon Bruning in a suit to stop the 
commercial production and sale of marijuana in Colorado.

On Friday, Pruitt clarified his position, saying his suit primarily 
targets Colorado's commercial marijuana industry.

"If Colorado had merely legalized marijuana for personal use and 
possession then there would be no lawsuit from Oklahoma and 
Nebraska," Pruitt said in a written statement. "But Colorado did more 
than that. Colorado established a regulatory scheme to promote the 
commercial sale of marijuana which has led to illegal products from 
Colorado being trafficked across state lines into Oklahoma, Nebraska 
and surrounding states. Our litigation is focused on that portion of 
the Colorado law which authorized the commercial sale of marijuana."

The real problem seems to be less legal sales of Colorado marijuana 
and more what appear to be illegal sales of potent new strains of 
cannabis grown in both licensed and unlicensed facilities and in the 
state's vast wilderness areas.

Virtually all of Colorado's legally marketed marijuana is grown 
inside, either in large warehouses equipped with high-energy grow 
lights or, increasingly, in greenhouses. Much of the production is in 
metropolitan Denver's industrial districts.

Recreational sales are supposed to be limited to an ounce per 
Colorado resident and a quarter-ounce per nonresident. While there 
have been many reports of customers doubling and tripling up by going 
to different stores, "that doesn't explain the duffel bags with 
anywhere from 15 pounds to 400 pounds that we've been confiscating," 
said Woodward.

"That is being sold by somebody," he said. "Who, we're not sure."

Tulsa County Undersheriff Tim Albin said his department has "seen an 
increase in drugs smuggled" but "I don't want to call it major."

Most recently, he said, the department's drug task force seized a 
load of THC-infused "edibles" similar to the popular Gummy Bears candy.

THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, is what gives marijuana its buzz. THC 
levels in marijuana have steadily increased over the past six 
decades, from around 1 percent in the 1960s to as high as 37 percent today.

As Woodward noted, some of the most potent marijuana is being grown 
in Colorado - so much so that pot is now being smuggled from the U.S. 
into Mexico.

And, according to the Washington Post and others, the fields in 
northwest Mexico that once produced the marijuana sold on street 
corners in American cities have been converted to poppies for the 
production of heroin and other opiates.

Woodward said his agency has had "about a dozen" cases involving 
Colorado marijuana over the past two years.

"That may not sound like a lot, but it's all we know of," he said, 
noting that local law enforcement agencies and the Department of 
Public Safety are also impacted.

Colorado itself is concerned about black market sales. In November, 
state and federal authorities raided four Denver warehouses believed 
to have been selling marijuana "out the back door."

In October, new production rules went into effect that some fear will 
create a glut of marijuana, drive down local prices and increase 
illicit sales. Woodward said marijuana bought for $1,000 in Colorado 
can be sold for three times that amount in Oklahoma and more than 
five times more on the East Coast.

There are also concerns that international drug gangs are operating 
in the state behind legitimate marijuana-related businesses.

"The ones who have benefited in Colorado are the cartels," said 
Albin. "They sell it out of cars and undercut the (licensed) 
dispensaries because they don't have the overhead costs."

According to news reports, there is considerable disagreement about 
the nature of black market sales in Colorado, but Attorney General 
John Suthers admits the state is struggling to stay on top of the 
burgeoning industry.

"I think it's pretty safe to say that we are becoming a major 
exporter of marijuana," Suthers told National Public Radio earlier 
this month. "You go to some of these warehouse districts and there's 
maybe four or five grow operations, and I think some people are 
counting on the fact that nobody's going to notice that this 
particular one isn't licensed, no one's going to particularly notice 
that a lot of marijuana's going out the back door."
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