MARIJUANA CARTELS OPERATE “JUST LIKE A BUSINESS”

I hear tell they’s sum lowdown varmints in these here parts that believe marijuany kin make a dadburn fortune fer states that slap a tax on ‘er. Tain’t so, varmints. Peers ya need summon to knock sum sense in ya. Lessen ya don’t take heed, best ta git ready to slap leather, ya flea-bitten, flop-eared bags of fur, ’cause I’m a gonna blast ya.

This just in. Federal prosecutors in Arizona recently announced that their indictments against four major Mexican marijuana smugglers operated their cartel “just like a business.” Federal prosecutors pointed out to jurors that the four defendents, ALL OF WHOM ARE STILL AT-LARGE and being charged in abstensia, managed the cultivation, harvesting, processing, transportation, distribution, and sale of their marijuana just like any normal business would do with a legal product offered to the public.

You could have knocked me over with a feather. After 14 years undercover AND SUCCESSFUL experience with operations against some of the world’s largest, most powerful and sophisticated drug cartels, I simply had no idea how smart, innovative, devious, and yes, even business-like these guys could be. It was a shock, I tell you, a shock.

Here’s the best part. Seems the prosecutors’ star witness is a veteran Anglo internationally-certified 18-wheeler truck driver who they hired to run huge multi-ton shipments of Mary Jane across the border in his truck load of whatever legit cargo he was hauling. It worked until it didn’t. He got busted at the border and is singing like a canary.

Seems the trucker’s big beef with his employer is a promised $5,000-7,000 per trip from the traffickers, but they ended up paying him $2,500-3,000 a load. Dumbass. I’ll bet the farm that they did indeed initially pay him what they promised. But once he was on the hook as a co-conspirator, he was toast. They had him by the balls, and he had to take what they gave him. Or else.

Oh, as for his value as a witness, we’ll see. One thing for sure. Shortly after he was arrested, and I mean within hours, the traffickers covered their tracks completely. They knew what he knew and took steps to erase any useful evidence well before law enforcement officers showed up anywhere to check out what the trucker was telling them. Names, street addresses, phone numbers, emails, whatever. All likely useless. That’s how it rolls in the world of drug trafficking.

So let’s look at some market realities about the marijuana business in the U.S. And how these realities stack up against states who have legalized marijuana for personal and/or medical use to make a few bucks.

CULTIVATION. “Cannabis cultivation and marijuana production operations are extensive throughout California, particularly in northern California. Outdoor cannabis cultivation is increasing dramatically in the northern region of the state, primarily because of expanded cultivation by Mexican DTOs (Drug Trafficking Organizations); as a result, the area is becoming one of the most significant outdoor cannabis grow areas in the state.”

Oops. Not only is marijuana being grown extensively in Mexico, the cultivation here in the U.S. is largely under the control of the Mexican DTOs. I pointed that out two years ago when I cited an example of marijuana cultivation by Mexicans in a U.S. National Forest near Green Bay, Wisconsin (good grief, Green Bay?). And where was the labor coming from? Illegal Mexican aliens. And what do you think is happening in California’s forests, with the help from 2 1/2 million illegals, mostly Mexican, residing in that state?

LABOR COSTS. This one is a no-brainer. For cultivation, harvesting and processing, the marijuana cartels operate on third world labor, in which wages are one-half or less of anything a legal process can establish in the U.S. End of story. No further discussion needed.

MARKET RESTRICTIONS. The states that have legalized marijuana for either medical and/or personal use all prohibit the sale to persons under 21 years of age. That’s MILLIONS of lost customers. Gee, I wonder where the youngsters will get their blow? Same place they get it now.

OVERHEAD. Taxes on marijuana by the states are the biggest factor here, just as they are with alcohol and tobacco (which, unlike marijuana, also deal with federal taxes). And regardless of what type of market the states set up, whether it is largely private or government-controlled or something in between, there will be land purchases, leases, security, property taxes, building maintenance, and a whole host of other costs that are less or even absent for the marijuana networks. And all of these aforementioned advantages for the marijuana cartels leads to ………

PRICE. Here’s where the rubber meets the road. Right now, the average retail price of marijuana is $3,200-$4,800 per pound in the West, $4,800-$6,400 in the Midwest and East, and topped by North Dakota and Hawaii at over $6,500 per pound as the highest prices in the country. These figures come from thepriceofweed.com. Remember, these retail prices reflect what is being charged in the ILLEGAL MARKET, because that is what the market will bear. But these prices are extremely flexible. You can come to places in Arizona, Texas, New Mexico, and California and buy Mary Jane for $500 a pound. That’s retail!!!! Think Los Angeles, San Diego, Phoenix, Tucson, Las Cruces, and El Paso. That’s $31.25 per ounce, compared with the average LEGAL $200 per ounce price at your local state-approved medical marijuana “clinic” in California and Colorado.

Those are real world MARKET FORCES that should tell any rational human being why legalization of marijuana will not work. Then there is the legal aspect, starting with legalizing marijuana for personal/medical use at the federal level (try getting THAT through the House and Senate and signed by the President) and that thorny 1977 UN treaty that classifies marijuana as a Class One drug, along with heroin and cocaine. Abrogation of this treaty, which requires approval by the President and 67 senators, will not occur even in your grandchildren’s time. It simply will not.

So what’s the solution to this conundrum over marijuana? In three words, decriminalization versus legalization. To put in it into three more words, fines versus felonies. This is done in several states, such as Ohio and New York. Get caught with an amount of pot that the state defines as personal use, here’s your “speeding ticket” so to speak. Pay the fine and off you go. No jail time, no felony on your record, and the fine goes into the state treasury coffers without the ginormous amount of money the states would have spent on this folly of trying to make a few extra bucks, which won’t happen, on legalizing and taxing marijuana. Win, win.

I look forward to your praise for this enlightening, thoughtful, fact-filled article …….. varmints.

Footnote for Admin (and our Choctaw friend, Llpoh): Indians win!!!! Indians win!!!! Now in the playoffs through the best team effort by a bunch of no names, no stars EVER. 10-0 in the home stretch. Standing O for the Tribe.