Mexican Cartels Join DEA in Opposition of U.S. State Marijuana Laws

[Purple Goose]

without drug smuggling these countries would be some of the poorest in the world with no import export economy . they would cease to become relavent in todays era and would revert to having to slave for rich countries coming in to build factories. thus giving them no control over anything they live by or beleive in. its the narcotics i am more concerned with than pot . when it comes to cartels. but every farmer in those countries make it(coke) and sell it to the cartels . nobody wants to go to jail or have to pay the piper but that is what makes the world go round.

Some of these countries you mention are also what I would call the heartland of medicinal cannabis , think of all those third world countries who have cultures steeped in the cultivation processing and use of cannabis these places would not only profit in a major way from a regulated market where they can legally import there products for a fair price, presently in some of these countries a kilo of hash made from the purest resin heads possible sells for less then $200 american if legalized they would at the very least see increase in price for the hash they produce to somewhere closer to $2000 per kilo. Then there is the fact that under a legalized and regulated sane policy cannabis farms would be just like todays vineyards hosting tours to the public educating them on there products and the influx of tourists would only help these countries to develop. An excellent example woould be the tourism generated in the wine country of California, the Niagra peninsula in Ontario and of course the legendary Vineyards of France . Just think of it once cannabis and its products are accepted the same way wine is people will flock to the older cannabis producing countries like Afghanistan, India ,Etc as we know once you get to know and understand cannabis you also appreciate the many varieties, colors ,aroma's and shapes it comes in as well as the various methods of cultivation and processing so when people look as the money that will be generated by cannabis or the fact that it wont be as valuable if there is no risk in growing it they forget revenue that will be generated by being able to show off every part of how they produce the medical or recreational cannabis products that would be available and better yet legal to charge tourists to see how its all made.

 

[Purple Goose]

I noticed in one post about medical pot and thc pills and while thc is the active component in cannabis to make it psychoactive I personally have found by experience that its not just the thc that accomplishes the medicinal properties for instance in chron's and IBS patients it would see that its a combination of ingesting cbd cbn cbg thc as well as the natural soft fibres and terpens within the bud. As for pain caused by spinal injury I have found that different strains even ones of equal potency offer varying levels of relief so in my opinion I think the medical effects of cannabis has to do with finding a strain that enhances our own bodies natural endocannabinoid production , not to mention that thc pills are synthetic and while they can make a molocule identical to thc they cannot put the same electron spins on every individual atom that a the living plant can do there is after all no substitute for nature.

 

[jigga2jones]

a very intersting opinion ..

 

[Firestone]

If you look at the real history of the development Marijuana laws,pre-Jack Herer,his obsessions and fantasies,you'll see that SSNUGS is on point. Marijuana laws first popped up in the Southwest,Cali,and the High Plains due a fall in agricultural production post WWI as a way to get rid of excess Mexican braceros who supposedly were taking American jobs.

Marijuana prohibition really took hold in the Depression. American farmers thrown of the land by deflation of agricultural prices,foreclosures and a severe drought that resulted in the Dust Bowl were willing to take any job they could get,putting them in direct competition for farming jobs w/ Mexican workers and African Americans who traditionally had held these jobs.

This combination of long standing Nativism in the Western States and general racism across the country,left the White public looking for an excuse to rid themselves of this competition for unskilled labor.

Politicians and members of the media,feeling the pressure,latched on to something that had worked two decades before to restrict Chinese labor and immigration,a drug scare. With the Chinese it was opium. With Mexicans and to a lesser extent African Americans,it was marijuana. (African Americans had been tarnished with cocaine in the 1910's as they began to migrate to the North in large numbers and compete with White workers for unskilled factory labor.)

William Randolph Hearst,Jack Herer's Devil,used his media empire in all three of the great drug scares,against the Chinese,against "Cocaine Crazed" African-Americans,and against Mexicans,other Latinos,Blacks and to some extent Fillipino's when it came to marijuana. Remember it was Hearst who coined the term "The Yellow Peril" when it came to Asian immigration to the West Coast and the Rocky Mountain states.

Hearst pulp interest may have played very small part in the marijuana campaign,but it was his Nativist politics and racist views that drove him and much of the country re;marijuana,from the 1910's until the late 30's.

If you want to know the real history of marijuana criminalization,go to the pre-Jack Herer sources,and get the facts. They're still out there,albeit many out of print.

 

[Purple Goose]

From all the history I have read the above scenario outlined by above by Firestone while correct is only part of the story, the prohibition did have its roots largely in racism but there was also the economic factors hemp was positioned at the time before prohibition to become the number one main raw material in the production of paper, textiles, building materials and as we all know the list goes on and on Popular mechanics in 1936 I believe was about to release an issue dedicated to hemp americas new billion dollar crop and all I can think is all these manufacturers like dupont and the like who either rely on synthetic, or petroleum based product ,or non renewable natural resources were looking at there vast empires crumbling down around them. So because of these laws over a 7 decades of technical refinement into hemp processing as well as research into new uses has been lost and all I can think is if hemp was a billion dollar crop back in the 1930's with the antiquated equipment I can only imagine the profits that would be made if the technology that would have made hemp a billion dollar crop had continued to evolve to be state of the art today .

 

[buckethead]

After reading this whole thread I would like to tell jigga to smoke a joint and chill.I would like to add that the grass isn't always greener on the other side ,legalization that is.I have been a smoker and grower for twenty years and have zero drug convictions.I have stopped growing about 6 years ago out of fear of what would happen to me if I were to get caught.My wife and I still puff every day and have to keep it on the down low as I live in a housing complex with a cop living on pretty much every corner.I will admit I absolutely hate living in fear of my government ,after all its just a fucking harmless plant.So I guess what I am trying to say is do I really want the same people that are against it for so long in control of it? Or maybe I could just use a little common sense and keep it on the Down low is it really all that bad? worst case scenario is I will just get a ticket, but what about the growers that risk there lively hood every day for us? I know that I don't want to lose my freedom,house and children just because I grew a plant. I would be happy if they changed the small scale growing laws to violations instead of felonies.Is full legalization what we really want? it is a very tough question to answer IMO

 

[Purple Goose]

Okay the best reason I can think of for full legalization of cannabis for adults is simply the people who are members of the cannabis culture who want things to stay as they are is because of the money , As a legal medical grower I can state for a fact that it costs me a little over 10$ per oz to grow my medicine as opposed to paying $240+ for cannabis of equal quality. Why do these growers worry about losing so much of there income is because of how they have had to operate in secrecy and under the radar so to them the only way to make money with cannabis is to grow it cheap and sell it for expensive, but if it was legal there would be so many more sources of income that would open up to growers, especially if you compare a cannabis market of conniseur quality product to the high end micro breweries in california just look at how much income is brought in by these vineyards hosting tours of there facilities as well as bed and breakfast inns on site etc etc so while the value of the cannabis may go down the increased market that will open up by being able to legally and openly distribute as much high quality cannabis as they can produce with no added expenses involved in smuggling it to its destination ,payoffs and all the rest of the underhanded activities that are required to make big money growing bud.

 

[jigga2jones]

i would hate to open this can of worms again . so let me first say in point on my want for that to be true . i just dont see it. as in a first rush of or flood a market scenerio will ensue . just like friends in cali who have no one to sell their crop to because of a flooded market for instance . this in turn will shatter crop prices in the future . while good for a consumer . this is terrible for a businessman whos made his living off his product . to have a flooded market will cause it to drop price of premium quality product in order to keep things moving . it has happened in all markets to date . until the oil crisis where inflation has increased prices . so . we as growers n marketers of canna have set our own prices and stablized our own market ,we run a very big risk in legalization of giving up control of a product . the governemt never helped anyone in these situations ever . so for people to back them under the controversy of this is too much a pipe dream for me . this is simply my opinion ...

 

[Andre Ramon]

well i am on the other side of the fence here fellas . by no means do i advocate murder by i'm right your wrong situation like you so vivdly put.

i would like pot to stay illegal for 2 reasons one i dont want my kids or family to smoke it regularly and two i would be out of a job. i work at a fast food joint

Watch your own kids. Your family probably already does smoke it regularly. Would you like them to be arrested and thrown in jail with violent criminals? I don't need the government to watch my kids. Adult family members do not need government baby sitters either.
I think that your fast food job is safe too.

 

[Purple Goose]

Sure in cali the market is flooded but if it was legalized the market would be expanded to where there would be a good 200million consumers just in north america alone compared to the number of growers who can produce a quality product worthy of mass marketing and I think we are actually looking at a pretty good consumer base just in sales of the product, add in tourism to the areas where its grown like they have in amsterdam toss in some educational venues that teach the average consumer how if they would prefer to grow there own and all above the board businesses that pay taxes and who also support the multitude of businesses that produce the equipment needed to grow recreational and medical marijuana then throw in all the industries that would spring up around growing comercial hemp which in my honest opinion is the plant that the dea really wants to keep illegal. Just think of the number of products and uses for hemp when you take into account that it grows anywhere can be used as fuel,clothing,building material,and food you have a plant that could essentially make every state self sufficient.

 

[Jim Finnel]

Its easy to tell that its Americans doing most of the conversing in the thread since most of the talk is about money. Hey people.... there are people in jail and more will be. Families are being torn apart. Not to mention all the sick people that can't get meds because of the laws or because they are unable to grow themselves or they can't afford to. I have all three of those problems. Wake up to the fact that the world doesn't revolve around growers. How about some people of heart growing some Cannabis for little or no profit and getting it to those who need it. I'm sorry I guess there is just too much of the 60's consciousness left in me. FREE Cannabis!

 

[Firestone]

Cateros,I was in on the early homebrewing business and the resultant microbrewing explosion in the late 80's. Two things that put a lot of the early micros out of business was they didn't understand market prices and customer tastes.

The early micro guys were beer geeks in the true sense of the word. They had a tendency to produce beers that reflected their tastes,ie;they were beer geeks producing beers for other beer geeks. There weren't enough beer geeks to go around,and two most of those geeks brewed their own beer. Why buy when you can make something better in your basement? The same thing is going on in the medical weed biz now.

Two,they shot for the best ingredients,and while that's fine it results in high prices for the end product. Your average Joe isn't going buy a pint of pale ale when he can get a six-pack of mass produced beer at the same price. Add into that,the fact that micros didn't have the resources or business volume to buy supplies on a scale large enough to bring their beer prices down,and they went into a nose dive in the late 90's.

The one's that survived were brewpubs,that combined good food with good beer,the local breweries that concentrated on what the customers in their immediate area wanted,the ones that were making fine beer who partnered with major breweries to bring down brewing costs and get greater distribution,and the blow out successes like Sam Adams,who now owns a number of large defunct regional breweries that allow it to work on an economy of scale.

A lot of the seedhouses and med shops remind me of those early micros. It's weed geeks producing for weed geeks. They offer a ton of different selections,but they seem to have blinders on when it comes to staying with the strains that work for their customers?

AK-47 was a great strain,but try and find it now at the seedhouses? The same with Williams Wonder. It's always the next new cross,or the auto flowering strain Joe Blow supposedly found in the Fergana Valley growing next to a rock with a carving of the Buddha on it.

Now it's feminized seed being sold nearly exclusively to protect their blends. Fine and dandy for them,but it sucks for the consumer as feminized seed is notorious for producing hermies. The consumer pays twice as much for half as much seed and gets an inferior product. Why are Nirvana and Attitude thought so highly of? They give people what they want at good prices,a choice of fem/regular on most strains and good service.

The upcoming craze seems to be landrace Sativas,but with the spread of Dutch genetics over the past 30 years,good luck in finding those.

I was visiting a friend in the sticks of Veracruz a couple-three years back. I picked up some local mota. I thought it was an import due to the density of the buds? Nope. Grown by a local farmer with a heavy dose of Indica in the family tree. When I first started going down there 15 years ago the local weed was all Sativa. Now it's got varying amounts of Indica in it.

The people in the fledgling canna-biz need to get their heads out of their asses before decrim/legalization comes or big Agri-Biz is going to eat their lunch. Just like the major breweries did when they started buying out the better micros they felt could compete with them in large markets.

 

[RollinBAC]

I'm with Jim here. It's not about the money, it's about freeing a plant. All those growers in California that voted againt Prop19, traitors to their own cause. It's pathetic that this country, in general, is all about the money and how much can I get. Legalize cannabis and the prices fall out the bottom and so do peoples profits. It's not about YOU it's about freeing a plant for the entire world to enjoy...and NOT for $240 an ounce.

As for the original article. Of coarse the drug cartels would support the DEA's war on cannabis, duh. This is were they make most of their money, importing marijuana..that and human traffiking. As for the DEA in general, like I stated in a different thread, I support them. They keep the "real" drugs off the street and out of the hands of our kids.

 

[Purple Goose]

Okay I was only up untill now arguing the fact that the number of growers that presently can produce quality product vs the number of consumers they would be able to distribute to legally would increase to the point where there profits would be maintained with the addition of cottage industries that will spring up around cannabis this was only to let those old time greedy grower/breeders have a different point of view and not have them obsessing that they wont get $2000-$3000 a lb anymore but in the other hand they will be able to operate openly without the expenses involved in keeping a large illegal money making operation going almost every article about drugs says the price of it currently is 60% the cost of smuggling it in so we eliminate that and also eliminate strong arm business and murder in the canna biz so the greedy people can now chill there profits will still be there ,

But then there is what I thought was obvious if cannabis was legal everywhere anyone can grow it hell all it takes is a closet 10-20 23w cfls and some autoflower seeds and you can keep yourself in personal forever, a medical patient growing for himself should be able to get by with a flowering area big enough for 1200w hps or equivelant lighting technology and a small veg tent with 250-400w hid should easilly be able to harvest nearly 2lb every 10weeks once they have established the perfect routine. Then there is also the fact that if it was just legalized any scientists could do efficacy tests with it on its effects on different conditions, which would mean that without dea interference there would be enough empirical evidence collected to move cannabis into a medical schedule that would make it covered by most medical insurance.

I just take it for granted that I assume most who voice there opinions are already well aware of the the fact that cannabis shouldnt even be illegal in the first place and that we all for the most part know how much good this plant can do for our planet especially if you have read the Emperor wear no clothes. And the fact is that anyone who believe in legalization should also remember this when the Govt wants to keep something illegal and Criminals agree with them there is something wrong and make no mistake anyone who has anything to do with the production transport or sale of marijuana for profit who also wants cannabis to stay illegal is in my opinion a Criminal because all they care about is making millions off a plant that anyone can grow for pennies per gram, just think most agricultural products dont sell for $200 per oz most dont even sell for $200 per ton so seriously in a legalized climate even if cannabis price drops to $5000 per ton it will be a product that will keep a great many american farmers living on there farm.

 

[Purple Goose]

I've found that i've had alot more problems with the "dare" generation...even had a family member rat out another family member as they felt with what they had been taught that it was the right thing to do...they have since grown older and somewhat wiser, but the thought in my head is, you're only innocent once and you kinda blew that one when you opened your mouth....only glad they didnt know about me...unfortunately, we have several of that group in our family, all kids about the same age....sure am glad the state got the chance to influence them so well...makes me sick..lavendar

When you mentioned about a family member ratting out a loved one cause they thought it was a the right thing to do it made me think of this movie you should all see if you havent seen it yet Called "Growing Op" wicked movies about a teenage kid who is super intelligent but removed from society because his parents run a full house grow op plants in every room but other then that this kid is smart ,well adjusted but just taught to not trust people he doesnt know or the cops,then a new girl moves in he falls in love and then things go down hill as her family and her are plants but the real message is at the end in how this girl who thought she was doing the right thing reacts to how things really turned out to be as compared to what she was taught. She thought she was catching bad people and instead found she was helping bust a nice family who just so happen to grow marijuana to make a living selling it to adults and not even within there community except for there daughter who steals from the harvest and runs her own business on the side. But you all should really watch this movie .

 

[SSNUGS]

I find a little hypocrisy in this thread. If the people want lower prices on meds then grow your own and see how well you do. I have been growing for a long time and what people seem to forget that it is still illegal and now the feds are going after medical states again. With that being said the people bitching about prices are not the one looking at life in prison for cultivation. That is one of the cost factors to put back in the equation. How many growers here have 30k to 50k laying around to pay for legal defense? How many dispensaries have 100k to 200k laying around to help defend all of your employees working for you that you will have to defend when your shop gets raided? I know people would love to legalize but if that is done than you will be supporting big tobacco and pharmacy giants because they are the ones that will put it on the counters for all to have. They will do the same as cigarettes and put all kinds of fillers and flavor enhancements that in the long run will weaken the medicine and also cause all the cancers that cigarettes do. Cali prices have dropped Colorado prices have dropped on the wholesale side but the dispensaries are still doing on average of 15 to 18 dollars per gram so quit bashing the growers we already have but beat down. Really if you want cheap weed grow your own and see how inexpensive it really is when you invest in all the equipment and supplies to do this work and it is work. Then stash about 2k a month for a defense fund because you will need it eventually. The other thing people forget is the time you yourself put in I am sorry but i don't work for free. People think that if you grow you will become a millionaire and live the life you might as well put down the pipe and start smoking weed and not crack because I don't know any millionaires in this field.Maybe china can grow cheap weed for ya.