Pubdate: Sun, 02 Feb 2014
Source: Oklahoman, The (OK)
Copyright: 2014 The Oklahoma Publishing Co.
Contact: http://www.newsok.com/voices/guidelines
Website: http://newsok.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/318
Author: Silas Allen

COLORADO POT NOT ROLLING INTO STATE

BOISE CITY - A month after recreational marijuana became legal in 
Colorado, the flood of Rocky Mountain weed law enforcement officials 
predicted would come across the border into Oklahoma doesn't appear 
to have materialized. At least, not yet. About 53 percent of Colorado 
voters in November 2012 voted to repeal the state's ban on 
recreational marijuana. That change went into effect at the beginning 
of January.

The new law allows anyone older than 21 to buy small amounts of 
marijuana from dispensaries in the state. Colorado residents may buy 
up to an ounce of marijuana in one transaction, while out-of-state 
residents are limited to a quarter ounce.

Before the change, officials predicted the new law would lead to an 
increase in marijuana coming into Oklahoma from Colorado, similar to 
the spike the state saw when Colorado legalized medical marijuana in 2010.

But Mark Woodward, a spokesman for the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics 
and Dangerous Drugs Control, said the officials haven't seen any 
substantial increase in the amount of marijuana the bureau seizes 
over the past month.

The bureau intercepts a shipment of marijuana coming from Colorado 
about every two to three weeks, Woodward said. That hasn't changed 
much since Colorado legalized medical marijuana. But he said he 
suspects the state will begin to see the number of shipments increase 
as the months go by.

"It's probably just a matter of time," he said. "It's too early to 
have hard, fast numbers on how many."

It's also difficult for state narcotics agents to tell whether a 
shipment of marijuana they seize comes from Colorado, Woodward said. 
Marijuana coming into the state from Colorado is usually packaged in 
clear bags. Medical marijuana coming from California is usually 
packaged the same way, meaning it's difficult to tell one from the 
other unless the driver tells officers where it came from, he said.

Despite that uncertainty, Woodward said the bureau has seized a few 
large shipments of marijuana officers suspect were bought in 
Colorado. A few shipments were well over 200 pounds, Woodward said.

In those cases, Woodward said officers think buyers went to Colorado 
and bought large amounts of marijuana from a legal dispensary.

Although state law places a quarter-ounce limit on sales to 
out-of-state residents, Woodward said those limits can be hard to enforce.

"They cannot regulate every sale," he said. "They can't have police 
in every marijuana patch and every dispensary to see what's being 
sold under the table and what's going out the back door."

State narcotics officers have also intercepted drivers from as far 
away as North Carolina and New Jersey carrying shipments of Colorado 
marijuana through Oklahoma and back to the East Coast. Because of the 
higher quality of the marijuana coming from Colorado, sellers are 
sometimes able to sell it for thousands of dollars more per pound 
than lower grade pot from Mexican cartels.

Cimarron County Sheriff Leon Apple said his office also hasn't seen 
any increase in the amount of marijuana coming into his county, which 
is the only part of Oklahoma that shares a border with Colorado. 
Deputies have been told to be on the lookout for it, he said.

Unless a deputy pulls over a driver for another offense, such as 
speeding or erratic driving, there's no way to tell if that driver is 
carrying marijuana, he said.

"I'm sure we're missing some that's coming through," he said.
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