Pubdate: Fri, 29 Jan 2016
Source: Honolulu Star-Advertiser (HI)
Copyright: 2016 Associated Press
Contact: 
http://www.staradvertiser.com/info/Star-Advertiser_Letter_to_the_Editor.html
Website: http://www.staradvertiser.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/5154
Author: Sadie Gurman, Associated Press

CRIMINALS GROW PAKALOLO IN COLORADO TO SMUGGLE IT ELSEWHERE

Traffickers Hide Amid Legal Pot Production and Profit Via Export

DENVER (AP) - Seeking a safe haven in Colorado's legal marijuana 
marketplace, illegal drug traffickers are growing weed among the 
state's sanctioned pot warehouses and farms, then covertly shipping 
it elsewhere and pocketing millions of dollars from the sale, 
according to law enforcement officials and court records consulted.

In one case the owner of a skydiving business crammed hundreds of 
pounds of Colorado pot into his planes and flew the weed to 
Minnesota, where associates allegedly sold it for millions of dollars 
in cash. In another a Denver man was charged with sending more than 
100 pot filled FedEx packages to Buffalo, N.Y., where drug dealers 
divvied up the shipment. Twenty other drug traffickers, many from 
Cuba, were accused of relocating to Colorado to grow marijuana that 
they sent to Florida, where it can fetch more than double the price 
in a legal Colorado shop.

These cases and others confirm a long-standing fear of marijuana 
opponents that the state's much-watched experiment in legal pot would 
invite more illegal trafficking to other states where the drug is 
still strictly forbidden.

One source is Colorado residents or tourists who buy retail pot and 
take it out of state. But more concerning to authorities are 
larger-scale traffickers who move here specifically to grow the drug 
and ship to more lucrative markets.

No one knows exactly how much pot leaves Colorado. When illegal 
shipments are seized, it's often impossible to prove where the 
marijuana was grown. But court documents and interviews with law 
enforcement officials indicate well-organized traffickers are seeking 
refuge in Colorado's flourishing pot industry.

"There's no question there's a lot more of this activity than there 
was two years ago," said Colorado's U.S. attorney, John Walsh.

Some in the legal industry say police have exaggerated the problem 
and put unfair scrutiny on people who legally grow pot on behalf of 
patients. Lawmakers last year limited unregulated pot growers to no 
more than 99 plants in an effort to crack down on those selling untaxed pot.

The federal government allowed Colorado's experiment on the condition 
that state officials act to keep marijuana from migrating to places 
where it is still outlawed and out of the hands of criminal cartels. 
Federal authorities acknowledge that both things are happening but 
say that because the state is trying to keep its industry tightly 
regulated, there's no reason to end the legal pot trade.

The pot industry also acknowledges the criminal activity and insists 
it is doing all it can to keep legally grown pot from crossing state 
lines. Among other safeguards, Colorado law requires growers to get a 
license and use a "seed-to-sale" tracking system that monitors 
marijuana plants at every stage.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom