Colorado Takes Aim At The Marijuana Black Market

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indicabush

indicabush

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Colorado, the first state to legalize recreational sale of marijuana, continues to provide lawmakers around the country with examples of what they should and should not do as they prepare to regulate medical and adult-use cannabis industry.

The latest involves allowing people to grow a large amount of marijuana in their homes, which Rocky Mountain State lawmakers have learned leads to a host of issues. Chief among them is the ability for organized crime to legally grow large amounts of marijuana, then divert it to the black market.

A new measure that limits the number of marijuana plants a person can grow at home won approval in March from the Colorado House of Representatives. It is expected to win approval in the Senate, and Gov. John Hickenlooper has also supported tighter restrictions in the legal marijuana market.

If passed, the measure would allow law enforcement to target suspected criminal enterprises that have used the state’s previous laws governing home-grown marijuana to their advantage.

Current law allows medical marijuana users to grow as many as 99 plants in their homes. The new law restricts that to 16.

Multi-National Criminal Organizations
The bill states that organized crime has moved into Colorado and that state lawmakers helped create the situation by initially allowing such large numberss of cannabis plants to be grown at private homes.

Many cities in the state, including Denver, have limited the number of plants that can be grown, but the 99-plant rule remains in effect across large sections of the state.

“Large-scale, multi-national crime organizations have exploited Colorado laws, rented multiple residential properties for large-scale cultivation sites, and caused an influx of human trafficking and large amounts of weapons as well as the potential for violent crimes in residential neighborhoods,” the bill states.

“Large-scale cultivation sites in residential properties have been used to divert marijuana out of state and to children.”

The state’s voters did not envision homes being used to cultivate large amounts of marijuana, said Police Chief John Jackson of Greenwood Village, just south of Denver.

“The current limit of 99 plants is a massive loophole in our state law that attracts criminal elements from across our nation in search of a quick buck,” he said, according to the Denver Post.

Other reasons for the law.
While the bill focused on going after criminals, those who read the fine print learned about a litany of issues that arise when states allow people to grow a large amount of marijuana at their home. For example, the bill listed these issues:

  • Overburdening a home’s electricity capacity by trying to grow too many plants.
  • A high potential for water damage and mold in homes where many plants are grown.
  • A “noxious smell that limits the ability of others who live in the area to enjoy the quiet of their homes.”
  • Because sites where marijuana is grown are “often” a rental, retrofitting the home to allow for large scale cultivation of marijuana can lead to significant damage that a landlord must contend with.
  • Large-scale marijuana grow houses dramatically reduce property values in the area.
Authored: Entrepreneur

House Bill 17-1220
 
lino

lino

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HickNpoop and the democrats are coming. They're finding a way to search our homes. Same tactics the Gov uses to take guns from homes. They're coming... :sweating:

copy & paste... this is from an activist.

Miserable CDPHE illegally accumulated over $12 million in excessive registration fees from patients -- then the State siphoned off the money for research. The Department has a history of faililng to meet the constitutional requirement that it verify patient's medical information within thirty days. Lebsock and Benavidez should know that Melton and the rest of the General Assembly voted unanimously to violate the confidentiality of the patient registry in 2014. Besides delay, the ongoing compromising of patient confidentiality as explicitly defined in the Constitution must be corrected. Independent contractors and other agencies may not have access to that information, according to the Constitution -- the General Assembly, Hack, and the State bureaucracy decided otherwise. Lebsock should investigate how it is that patients fail federal background checks for firearms purchases too.
 
nocollins2k

nocollins2k

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Marijuana is grown like tamatoes, so the mold argument is gone.

Plant numbers should be counted from plants in flower vs total plants in an area. They seem to forget farmers have plants in all stages to have successful crops..

If it is legal how is it black market?

Perhaps the powers that be, that have comemercial grow licenses are mad. Medical vs Recreational markets, should always be sperate.
 
SpiderK

SpiderK

2,339
263
& all these underground black market heads just gave .gov personal info in many states thinking they are now fast friends...

now you are on a database for good. oops ....

wait until the instagram seed business explodes and a few peeps go away like gypsy. that should be coming soon.
 
lino

lino

2,637
263
& all these underground black market heads just gave .gov personal info in many states thinking they are now fast friends...

now you are on a database for good. oops ....

wait until the instagram seed business explodes and a few peeps go away like gypsy. that should be coming soon.
Canada is going legal, other states will be coming out. But Ive seen entire countries have their registered guns taken so Im just waiting. Its will be interesting to watch. Sessions HATES bud but there are to many of us so well see. If the Gov went all in 'On Illegal Weed' 4x4 tent would make some good side cash, 4x8 tent would be even better. So the grow rooms have always been, and will always be. Colo home grower need to be careful. HickNpoop is trying hard to stop home grows at his mtgs.
 
markscastle

markscastle

Well-Known Farmer
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All tbe so called legalized weed is just away to take over the market from home growers . Real legal does not regulate , tax or control. How can anyone say that the new legal is anything less than a take over? It shifts regulation and a fine system over a criminal system to allow restricted growing and use and cut into the costs with fees and fines . That's not real legal weed my friend , it's just a cheeper way of controlling people and maybe a little milder consiquences ,but still no where legal.
 
PauliBhoy

PauliBhoy

221
63
Real legal does not regulate , tax or control.
This is simply not true.

Alcohol, which is fundamentally an agricultural product, has been taxed at the federal and/or state levels in the US going back to 1790. George Washington himself led an army of 13,000 soldiers to quell the rebellion sparked by the first one:

Tobacco was first taxed at the federal level as early as 1794 and has been consistently taxed since 1862:

Furthermore, most agricultural products in general are regulated to some extent:

Regulations help prevent unfair trading practices, unsanitary packing and working conditions, toxic chemicals or non-food products from being present in foods, and inhumane livestock practices. Without them foodborne illness would be rampant, packing and working conditions would be intolerable, foods would be laced with various toxic and inedible products (such as sawdust in bread), and more. Read up on the plethora of USDA regulations here:
 

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