Christine Green
New Member
It's become a familiar lament in the age of legal marijuana: Weed from places like Colorado and Washington is making its way all over the country, creating headaches for law enforcement.
Nebraska and Oklahoma recently sued Colorado over the state's legal marijuana market (the Supreme Court declined to take up the case). Sheriffs in neighboring states have been complaining about the strain that Colorado weed is putting on tight law enforcement budgets. A recent USA Today story described a "flow of high-quality marijuana out of Colorado" and into other states.
It may seem as if the country is drowning in cheap, potent Colorado weed. But federal datasets tell a more complicated story: Nationwide, federal marijuana trafficking offenses are on the decline.
The United States Sentencing Commission (USSC), which compiles data on federal law enforcement efforts, recently released its latest drug trafficking statistics. And they show that federal marijuana trafficking offenses have fallen sharply since 2012, the year that Colorado and Washington residents voted to legalize marijuana. The decline continues through 2015, the most recent year for which data is available.
"The number of marijuana traffickers rose slightly over time until a sharp decline in fiscal year 2013 and the number continues to decrease," the report says. Meanwhile trafficking in other drugs, notably meth and heroin, appears to be on the rise.
RAND's Beau Kilmer says there are three major variables that affect the number of trafficking arrests: "1) efforts made by law enforcement, 2) efforts made by the smugglers to conceal the contraband, and 3) the amount of contraband being shipped. Thus, there could be multiple explanations for the decrease at the federal level." But he agrees that the USSC's data doesn't point to which of these are behind the decline in marijuana trafficking offenses.
The Drug Enforcement Administration, which enforces federal drug trafficking laws, did not respond to questions about the data.
There's no doubt that some marijuana from places like Colorado and Washington is being illegally sent elsewhere. But if this were truly a serious, nationwide problem you'd expect federal marijuana trafficking offenses to be rising. Instead, they're falling. This suggests that concerns about interstate marijuana smuggling could be overblown.
News Moderator: Christine Green 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Federal Marijuana Smuggling is Declining in The Era of Legal Weed
Author: Christopher Ingraham
Contact: christopher.ingraham@washpost.com
Photo Credit: Photo by Matt McClain/ The Washington Post
Website: The Washington Post
Nebraska and Oklahoma recently sued Colorado over the state's legal marijuana market (the Supreme Court declined to take up the case). Sheriffs in neighboring states have been complaining about the strain that Colorado weed is putting on tight law enforcement budgets. A recent USA Today story described a "flow of high-quality marijuana out of Colorado" and into other states.
It may seem as if the country is drowning in cheap, potent Colorado weed. But federal datasets tell a more complicated story: Nationwide, federal marijuana trafficking offenses are on the decline.
The United States Sentencing Commission (USSC), which compiles data on federal law enforcement efforts, recently released its latest drug trafficking statistics. And they show that federal marijuana trafficking offenses have fallen sharply since 2012, the year that Colorado and Washington residents voted to legalize marijuana. The decline continues through 2015, the most recent year for which data is available.
"The number of marijuana traffickers rose slightly over time until a sharp decline in fiscal year 2013 and the number continues to decrease," the report says. Meanwhile trafficking in other drugs, notably meth and heroin, appears to be on the rise.
RAND's Beau Kilmer says there are three major variables that affect the number of trafficking arrests: "1) efforts made by law enforcement, 2) efforts made by the smugglers to conceal the contraband, and 3) the amount of contraband being shipped. Thus, there could be multiple explanations for the decrease at the federal level." But he agrees that the USSC's data doesn't point to which of these are behind the decline in marijuana trafficking offenses.
The Drug Enforcement Administration, which enforces federal drug trafficking laws, did not respond to questions about the data.
There's no doubt that some marijuana from places like Colorado and Washington is being illegally sent elsewhere. But if this were truly a serious, nationwide problem you'd expect federal marijuana trafficking offenses to be rising. Instead, they're falling. This suggests that concerns about interstate marijuana smuggling could be overblown.
News Moderator: Christine Green 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Federal Marijuana Smuggling is Declining in The Era of Legal Weed
Author: Christopher Ingraham
Contact: christopher.ingraham@washpost.com
Photo Credit: Photo by Matt McClain/ The Washington Post
Website: The Washington Post
