Reports: Colorado medical marijuana being illegally trafficked
Two recent reports show that Colorado’s medical marijuana is getting into the wrong hands, both in our state and across the nation.
A survey by a Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area team highlights more than 70 cases where Colorado medical marijuana was illegally diverted to 23 states by caregivers, patients and dispensaries, including one in Colorado Springs.
The survey was a three-week effort where researchers gathered data and talked to law enforcement officials. It concluded that Colorado’s medical marijuana regulations are not working.
“It’s not surprising at all to me. In fact, I predicted it to the Legislature in 2010 that there would be sales out the back door,” said Colorado Attorney General John Suthers. “I would suspect a lot of the marijuana has not been apprehended in those other states and that the problem is probably worse than that reports suggests.”
Suthers said he doesn’t believe there’s much that can be done to stop illegal trafficking.
“I think probably very little, short of closing down the dispensaries,” Suthers said.
A second recent study by the University of Colorado School of Medicine, indicates that 75 percent of teens at two drug treatment facility centers report using someone else’s medical marijuana. The report did not conclude if the marijuana came from a patient, caregiver or dispensary.
“The industry does not support people doing illegal operations,” said Bob Wiley, member of the Colorado Springs Medical Cannabis Council. “If they document people who are selling illegally, arrest them, put them on trial.”
Wiley said the trafficking problem wasn’t caused by legalizing medical marijuana.
“We’ve had trafficking of marijuana since, probably, Colorado was a state. Nothing has really changed,” Wiley said.
He says state leaders should be working with the industry, not against it.
“Let’s have state officials stand up for states’ rights here in Colorado, Wiley said. “Stand up for the laws that we’ve passed instead of trying to throw the industry under the bus.”
