Pubdate: Fri, 02 Aug 2013
Source: Denver Post (CO)
Copyright: 2013 The Denver Post Corp
Contact:  http://www.denverpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/122
Author: John Ingold

REPORT: POT FLOWING OUT

A Law Enforcement Group Says Colorado Has Become a Major Exporter of 
Illegally Grown Marijuana Throughout the U.S.

Colorado has become a major exporter of illegally grown marijuana to 
the rest of the country, according to a new report by a network of 
law enforcement organizations.

Last year, police across the country made at least 274 highway 
seizures of marijuana that investigators linked back to Colorado. 
According to the report, the seized pot- 31/2 tons of it in 2012 - 
was destined for 37 different states, most frequently Kansas, 
Missouri and Illinois.

Many of the cases involved multi-pound quantities of marijuana being 
shipped out of state. Officers also seized hundreds of thousands of 
dollars connected to the cases, the report states. Some of the seized 
marijuana was diverted from medical-marijuana dispensaries, the report alleges.

In addition, U.S. Postal Service inspectors last year seized 158 
packages of marijuana being sent through the mail, according to the 
report. They seized 209 packages of pot in the first five months of 
this year alone.

All of the reported seizure numbers are significantly higher than 
they were several years ago. In 2005, for instance, police made 54 
highway seizures of Colorado-grown marijuana, according to the report.

The report was written by the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug 
Trafficking Area, a network of law enforcement organizations in four 
western states that share information on drug-running patterns.

"If you look at those trends, you have to say there's something going 
on here," said Tom Gorman, the director of the group, which goes by 
the acronym RMHIDTA. "And it certainly appears that Colorado has 
become a source state for destinations east of here."

The report is a preliminary one, Gorman said, and its figures are not 
comprehensive. The numbers come from a database kept by the 
Department of Justice's El Paso Intelligence Center, to which law 
enforcement agencies voluntarily report seizure information.

Gorman said his organization did not try to compare Colorado's 
marijuana exports to those from other states, most notably 
California. A RMHIDTA survey last year noted that Drug Enforcement 
Administration officials in St. Louis reported seizing for the first 
time more marijuana grown in Colorado than in California in 2011.

The report released Thursday is titled, "The Legalization of 
Marijuana in Colorado: The Impact." In addition to the pot seizure 
statistics, it reports that adult and teen use of marijuana, 
emergency room visits related to marijuana and fatal crashes 
involving drivers testing positive for marijuana have all increased.

However, Mason Tvert, one of the proponents of the 
marijuana-legalization measure that voters passed in November, said 
the report's title is misleading because almost all of the figures 
are pre-legalization. Tvert contended that the system of regulated 
pot shops the legalization measure will create will limit 
black-market diversion. Gorman, Tvert noted, campaigned against legalization.

"There is a reason we don't see people brewing beer and distilling 
spirits in their basements and bootlegging it around the country," 
Tvert said. "It's because we abandoned alcohol prohibition and 
decided it made more sense to regulate it. We can do the same thing 
with marijuana in Colorado."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom