Take a Bite out of Mexican Crime, Smoke US Weed?

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“The casual consumer in the U.S. — the kid or adult that smokes a joint — will never in their mind associate smoking that joint with the severing of people’s heads in Mexico,” he said.

MSNBC just put out a new article on the way high end marijuana produced in the United States is cutting into the Mexican drug cartel’s profits.  According to article, California’s Prop 215’s laws are both a “license to grow money” for Mom and Pop farmers and, by implication, a way to damage the increasingly violent Mexican drug lords.  The article is fascinating reading.  Several North Coast residents are quoted including Wayne Hansen a local sherrif. and Jack Nelsen, commander of the Humboldt County Drug Task Force in Northern California.

Eric Sligh, publisher of Grow magazine which I write for, appears on a video linked to the article.  But the most fascinating interview is with a Mexican grower for the drug cartel here in Humboldt.  He says, “”The mountain can eat you up,…you’re only thinking about the next day. You have to get up at 4 in the morning to water the marijuana, because the helicopter might come by when the sun is up, and if you water too late, he’ll see the mist coming off the plants. You do this every day. There’s no church on Sunday or anything like that. You have to be focused. You have to give everything for them.”

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Dave
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Dave
14 years ago

I’d like to think American growers are cutting into the Mexican cartel’s cannabis operations in our state and national forests.

I’ve heard that the Mexican growers here are often forced to grow for the cartels. Apparently their families and friends are in danger if they don’t do what their told. Talk about being caught in the middle.

I’ve written numerous articles about the Mexican cartel’s marijuana operations since I’ve seen their work as far back as 1985 when I did a series of stories on them. Stopping this practice is going to take more than just “Mom & Pop” growers (regardless of their superior product). Having said that, it seems to be that the Mom & Pops represent what the cartel’s really fear…legalization of marijuana in California.
No one really knows if just anyone will be able to grow their own gardens if legalization does pass, so that remains to be seen.

My guess is the cartel’s see the writing on the wall however, and are already moving on to other illegal activities while trying to milk the marijuana cow as long as possible.

Thanks for the link.

Fred Evil
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Fred Evil
14 years ago

Simple. You want to hamstring the Mexican cartels overnight, and provide AMERICAN farmers with a real cash crop?

LEGALIZE CANNABIS!

After a 40 year ‘War on Drugs’ NO ONE can say it has had ANY affect, can they? If they think it’s done ANYTHING, they either work for it, or are so prohibition-minded they can’t see the forest for the trees.

NO, drugs aren’t good for you, but prohibition is WORSE.

26 MILLION Americans used cannabis last year. With only 3 million prison beds, where does the DEA and ONDCP propose we put them all, if we managed to ‘win’ the ‘War on Drugs?’ WHERE?

Bottom line is the WoD is UNWINNABLE. We CANNOT win the WoD.

So instead of trying our darndest to flush 26 million Americans lives away, perhaps we ought to recognize the futility of this ‘War’ and think about reaping some tax money from an industry we CAN NOT make go away?

Pragmatism works best, when your idealism fails.

Stop oppressing nearly 10% of the American populace. STOP making the Mexican Cartels richer through the ignorance and futility of the DEA and ONDCP. They’ve failed, but they will NEVER admit it!

Fred Evil
Guest
Fred Evil
14 years ago

Simple. You want to hamstring the Mexican cartels overnight, and provide AMERICAN farmers with a real cash crop?

LEGALIZE CANNABIS!

After a 40 year ‘War on Drugs’ NO ONE can say it has had ANY affect, can they? If they think it’s done ANYTHING, they either work for it, or are so prohibition-minded they can’t see the forest for the trees.

NO, drugs aren’t good for you, but prohibition is WORSE.

26 MILLION Americans used cannabis last year. With only 3 million prison beds, where does the DEA and ONDCP propose we put them all, if we managed to ‘win’ the ‘War on Drugs?’ WHERE?

Bottom line is the WoD is UNWINNABLE. We CANNOT win the WoD.

So instead of trying our darndest to flush 26 million Americans lives away, perhaps we ought to recognize the futility of this ‘War’ and think about reaping some tax money from an industry we CAN NOT make go away?

Pragmatism works best, when your idealism fails.

Stop oppressing nearly 10% of the American populace. STOP making the Mexican Cartels richer through the ignorance and futility of the DEA and ONDCP. They’ve failed, but they will NEVER admit it!

Mr. Nice
Guest
Mr. Nice
14 years ago

All the things said about the “cartels” and their involvement with this is pretty bogus in major media. The supposed kidnappings and connections to decapitations and such… that is all from Mexican-produced drugs.

In Mexico, there are many cartels, some religious motivated and some purely mafia motivated. But as far as cannabis, these cartels have their plates full trying to handle the 15,000 some odd metric tons grown in Mexico annually.

The “gangstas” run the farmers in the woods. The DOJ won’t print that and the newspapers certainly won’t print that. They will say it is domestic and that they don’t really see the connection to organizations in Mexico. Right. But when they do a bust like busting up some of the Southeast Asian grow gangs who were laundering money through Hong Kong triads (I think that had some racist name like Operation Dragon), the media happily prints exactly what is going on. This is because people don’t have gang graffiti from Hong Kong triads in their neighborhoods.

Another problem with admitting this is admitting that the leaders of domestic organizations play this role from inside of American prisons. It seems more out there when the leaders are in some other nation instead of their room and board being paid for with tax dollars.

Anyway, don’t buy bammer weed, support our troops.

Mr. Nice
Guest
Mr. Nice
14 years ago

All the things said about the “cartels” and their involvement with this is pretty bogus in major media. The supposed kidnappings and connections to decapitations and such… that is all from Mexican-produced drugs.

In Mexico, there are many cartels, some religious motivated and some purely mafia motivated. But as far as cannabis, these cartels have their plates full trying to handle the 15,000 some odd metric tons grown in Mexico annually.

The “gangstas” run the farmers in the woods. The DOJ won’t print that and the newspapers certainly won’t print that. They will say it is domestic and that they don’t really see the connection to organizations in Mexico. Right. But when they do a bust like busting up some of the Southeast Asian grow gangs who were laundering money through Hong Kong triads (I think that had some racist name like Operation Dragon), the media happily prints exactly what is going on. This is because people don’t have gang graffiti from Hong Kong triads in their neighborhoods.

Another problem with admitting this is admitting that the leaders of domestic organizations play this role from inside of American prisons. It seems more out there when the leaders are in some other nation instead of their room and board being paid for with tax dollars.

Anyway, don’t buy bammer weed, support our troops.

tom
Guest
tom
14 years ago

“NO, drugs aren’t good for you, but prohibition is WORSE.”
What research do you have that “drugs” are not good for you? Are you talking about cigs and alcohol? Pot helps me sleep and can be of much benefit for many people. We decry the evils of meth and yet the military routinely give soldiers Go Pills (meth) and stop pills and anti down pills. I depend on my heart medications etc. Drugs are Drugs and can be used or abused, it should be up to the person. My parents said they never drank so much as they did during prohibition.

tom
Guest
tom
14 years ago

“NO, drugs aren’t good for you, but prohibition is WORSE.”
What research do you have that “drugs” are not good for you? Are you talking about cigs and alcohol? Pot helps me sleep and can be of much benefit for many people. We decry the evils of meth and yet the military routinely give soldiers Go Pills (meth) and stop pills and anti down pills. I depend on my heart medications etc. Drugs are Drugs and can be used or abused, it should be up to the person. My parents said they never drank so much as they did during prohibition.

Fred Evil
Guest
Fred Evil
14 years ago

tom – I’m using common sense. Alcohol (a drug) can kill, and cause numerous other issues. The same with cigarettes, though they are far more lethal than any other known, common drug. And the fact that there are a multitude of carcinogens in smoked cannabis, also puts into question its overall safety (while most reputable studies have shown it to be benign, they are hardly exhaustive, honesty will get us much further than simple bullheadedness).

But you are correct, drugs are simply tools to alter feelings, capacity or behavior. If used responsibly, no problems. If not used responsibly, there can be potentially dire consequences (although the consequences of abusing cannabis are FAR less likely to be dire than most other drugs).

Fred Evil
Guest
Fred Evil
14 years ago

tom – I’m using common sense. Alcohol (a drug) can kill, and cause numerous other issues. The same with cigarettes, though they are far more lethal than any other known, common drug. And the fact that there are a multitude of carcinogens in smoked cannabis, also puts into question its overall safety (while most reputable studies have shown it to be benign, they are hardly exhaustive, honesty will get us much further than simple bullheadedness).

But you are correct, drugs are simply tools to alter feelings, capacity or behavior. If used responsibly, no problems. If not used responsibly, there can be potentially dire consequences (although the consequences of abusing cannabis are FAR less likely to be dire than most other drugs).