UPDATE: Attorney general asks marijuana industry to help crack down on black markets

Colorado’s attorney general asked for assistance from the legal marijuana industry in cracking on gray and black markets selling pot locally and shipping it out of state.

Her remarks come shortly after a Colorado grand jury indicted 32 people on charges that they illegally grew and shipped thousands of pounds of marijuana to other states, most often Minnesota.

Tri Trong Nguyen, with the support of his wife, three sisters, and dozens of co-conspirators, is alleged to have overseen a massive illegal interstate marijuana distribution network.

The Colorado Attorney General’s Office said Thursday that authorities believe the group made about $12 million during the four years it operated. The indictment came after authorities raided 13 Denver marijuana warehouses in October.

The indictment says growers were not licensed with the state and falsely posed as medical marijuana caregivers. Authorities accuse them of exploiting Colorado’s commercial pot industry to hide in plain sight. But the indictment says the organization received no help from the state’s legal marijuana industry.

Those indicted last week face charges including racketeering, felony cultivation and distribution of marijuana, money laundering and conspiracy.

“This investigation shut down one of the largest and most sophisticated criminal enterprises uncovered since Colorado voters passed Amendment 20 in 2000. Nguyen’s drug ring is further evidence of Colorado’s thriving black market. Illegal drug dealers are simply hiding in plain sight, attempting to use the legalized market as a cover,” said Colorado Attorney General Cynthia H. Coffman.

The news frustrated companies like Marisol Therapeutics operating legally in the state’s marijuana industry.

“We worked so hard to get here as a business,” said Marisol Therapeutics manager Tracy Elias.

Elias said her story follows the rules, but there will continue to be those who choose to do things illegally.

“You could put a recreational shop on every corner and people are going to still cut corners. People are going to jump into illegal activity. I don’t think it’s anything that is ever going to completely stop until everyone goes recreational,” said Elias.

Lawmakers are looking at a bill that would crack down on marijuana caregivers by closing loopholes in the law.