Prosecutors: Colorado sees increase in homicides motivated by marijuana

Doppelgangirl said:

Oh sweet baby Jesus... Asset forfeiture is the biggest racket I've ever seen. And they can do it **before proving guilt in court.**

It's hideous, the "War on Drugs" is more than a simple failure. It's a living lesson in hypocrisy.

/rant

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And it's a clear violation of the Fifth Amendment, and yet we, the people, allow it to continue.

Dittohead not! said:

And it's a clear violation of the Fifth Amendment, and yet we, the people, allow it to continue.

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I would say a more accurate description would be that the authorities insist that it continues. Not we the people.

Thoreau72 said:

I would say a more accurate description would be that the authorities insist that it continues. Not we the people.

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It's about time that we, the people woke up to the fact that we're supposed to be in charge of this government of, by, and for the people.

Or, maybe it's already too late.

Dittohead not! said:

And it's a clear violation of the Fifth Amendment, and yet we, the people, allow it to continue.

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Agree with the assessment... But didn't you mean the Fouth Amendment? :mrgreen:

Doppelgangirl said:

Agree with the assessment... But didn't you mean the Fouth Amendment? :mrgreen:

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Fifth. This part:

...nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

Dittohead not! said:

Fifth. This part:

...nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

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Aha. My mistake.

I was thinking the Fourth (unreasonable seizure), but you hit the nail on the head.

Somewhere along the way, it seems more than a few folks got the impression badges grant extra rights. Specifically, the "right" to disregard the rights of others.

That needs to change.

Dittohead not! said:

It's about time that we, the people woke up to the fact that we're supposed to be in charge of this government of, by, and for the people.

Or, maybe it's already too late.

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We The People have not been in charge of this government in a very long time, perhaps before I was born in 1947.

That the electoral process actually allows us to "control" the government is a magnificent fantasy.

Thoreau72 said:

We The People have not been in charge of this government in a very long time, perhaps before I was born in 1947.

That the electoral process actually allows us to "control" the government is a magnificent fantasy.

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You may be correct.
But, we could if we would.

We need to start by staging a revolution at the ballot box: Vote out all of the incumbents regardless of party. That should shake things up a bit.

Dittohead not! said:

You may be correct.
But, we could if we would.

We need to start by staging a revolution at the ballot box: Vote out all of the incumbents regardless of party. That should shake things up a bit.

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Agreed, and we should also start a revolution in the jury box: voting against bad laws and poor applications of other laws. Sadly, many jurors are as misinformed and gullible as most voters.

longview said:

I read this thread, and was thinking "just how much does weed cost in legal Colorado?"
Colorado Weed Prices - PriceOfWeed.com
well just ask price of weed .com.
So High quality between $90 and $300 an ounce (Wow).
It sounds like there is plenty of room for the black market to still make a profit,
considering, it could be a home grown operation.

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If it is actually high quality, up to 300 an ounce is about right compared to street value. If you pay 40-60 for an ounce of high quality, you are probably not getting high quality.

Like for example when I lived in socal, 60 an 8th for mid grade was norm, the dispenseries sold it at about half that. About the only weed anyone could get there for 60 an ounce was dirt weed where half your ounce was lost in seeds and stems.

ajn678 said:

So drug dealers are getting shot and they say the legalization of marijuana contributes to that? I don't get their reasoning.

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They are invested.

If you legalize pot, you don't need to keep as many prosecutors and police on the payroll (unless you are smart, in which case they'll devote their resources elsewhere).

In every state where marijuana was decriminalized, legalized for medical use, or legalized, the prosecutors opposed it. In contrast, when MA decriminalized (and legalized for medical use), exit polls indicated that police officers were well over a majority in terms of supporting each measure. They don't want to deal with this ****. They want to focus on actual crimes that hurt people, but the prosecutors seem more interested in justifying their funding than the police.

This was confirmed via personal anecdote. A friend's friend is a cop, and we talked it over while drinking altogether too much before walking over to the recent G n' R show......and he fully agreed that keeping it anything but legal is stupid. (In fact, he remarked that if it was legal and they didn't test, he'd stop drinking and smoke instead.....it's vastly less dangerous than alcohol).

longview said:

It sounds like there is plenty of room for the black market to still make a profit,
considering, it could be a home grown operation.

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Well, alcohol makes a good comparison: there is a black market, but it's very small and is not defended by violent organized crime as during prohibition. We're talking people distilling moonshine and giving/selling it to people, in rather remote places. The numbers just don't make sense given the penalties for committing the crime. Same thing with pot.


In fact, it makes even less sense with pot. Sure, if you want absolute top quality, you've got to invest in good equipment for an indoor farm or hydro farm. But, if you want reasonably good pot in large volume, just take care of it like I'd take care of my tomato and pepper garden. If a legalization measure allows home-grown as well as retail sales, it would be virtually impossible for the black market to carve out a profitable niche.

Dittohead not! said:

No one is talking about eliminating cash, only about allowing the use of plastic. You can still buy gas with cash, but you can also use credit cards. Were gas to be purchased with cash only, then any gas station/mini mart would be known to have large amounts of cash on hand and would therefore be targets for thieves. The same thing happens with pot stores that have to deal in cash.

Anyway, the government does not issue credit or debit cards.

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Good point! One of the largest overhead costs for dispensaries is securing and accounting large sums of cash. I would be willing to bet many dispensaries would offer discounts if you paid with plastic.

Kushinator said:

Good point! One of the largest overhead costs for dispensaries is securing and accounting large sums of cash. I would be willing to bet many dispensaries would offer discounts if you paid with plastic.

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No doubt, and not having large sums of cash on hand would make them a lot safer. The real title should be "Prosecutors in Colorado see increase in homicides motivated by cash"