U.S. Arrests 130 Puerto Ricans, Including 90 Police Officers, on Charges Related to Drug Trafficking
October 7th, 2010Clear out the upstarts. Eliminate the competition. Keep prices high.
Via: AP:
Hundreds of FBI agents flew into Puerto Rico to round up dozens of police officers accused of aiding drug traffickers Wednesday — one of the darkest days yet for a force tarnished by recent allegations of brutality, discrimination and incompetence.
In pre-dawn raids, about 1,000 federal agents swept up about 130 people, including nearly 90 law enforcement officers accused of providing security to drug dealers on a U.S. territory where police are struggling to curb spiraling crime and rampant drug smuggling.
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said it was the largest police corruption investigation in the FBI’s history.
“We will not allow the corrupt actions of a few to destroy the good work of so many,” Holder said at a news conference in Washington. “The people of Puerto Rico deserve better.”
The suspects include a dozen prison guards, two soldiers in the U.S. Army, three National Guard soldiers and civilians.
The indictments allege law enforcement officers provided security for drug deals in exchange for payments ranging from $500 to $4,500, Holder said.
That is so true. But on a tangent, what is your take on what the thousands of people dependent upon cannabis profits are going to do in the next years in the U.S.? Do they lack power to halt these legalization laws? Colorado Springs just licensed 170 dispensaries. The Sacramento News& Review had a special 16 page advertising insert that lays out all the stores touting their different strains, the list of doctors to write prescriptions etc. – all in a city so conservative that campaigns for bicycle lanes have to be carefully toned down to avoid appearing too liberal. When they bust enormous grows in the hills, we say the prices are being kept up, but I don’t see how they could possibly hold on. Of course, liquor can be rather expensive too.
what is your take on what the thousands of people dependent upon cannabis profits are going to do in the next years in the U.S.?
Maybe George Lucas will need a bunch of wookie extras for upcoming Star Wars projects???
In the meantime, they’ll blaze away and dream about the glory days when the pigs helped keep prices high.
https://cryptogon.com/?p=15658
Pot is a… weed. Without prohibition, tomato seedlings at Home Depot would cost more than young pot plants. This is the starkest example of artificially high prices created by the maniac state that I’m aware of. It’s like standing on a beach and having someone try to sell you a spoon full of sand for a million dollars. It’s absurd.
In my humble view, police corruption in Puerto Rico (or anywhere I’d dare say) is a larger subject than just the drug trafficking activity aspect of it. Puerto Rico in general is a peculiar case. Neither fish nor fowl, the island is in the middle of all sorts of American concerns geographically and politically, and I suggest the politics are enormously complicated. Such a situation will never be amenable to things being done there on the up and up. In my humble view.
Puerto Rico aside though, I’d like to say something about cannabis and the legalization topic.
First, hydroponic weed is far superior to outdoors poroduced weed -and costs a lot to grow.
http://news.humcounty.com/AP_Says_Marijuana_Prices_Will_Plummet_After_Legalization.html
‘There are few growers who can produce marijuana for less than $75 per ounce, and the vast majority of growers are probably spending $100-$180 on each ounce of bud they produce. Granted, that is for top quality weed, not the mass-produced crap that we can only assume the major tobacco companies and other large corporations will eventually manufacture on a large scale once pot really is legalized in California.’
http://news.humcounty.com/PG_E_Raises_Rates_for_Pot_Growers.html
http://news.humcounty.com/HowStuffWorks_Explains_Marijuana_Grow_Houses.html
Second, with that said, bringing down such costs entails larger scale grow ops. As does any one grower making more money in the first place. With enough economy of scale, legalization may well be competitive to black market production.
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local/east_bay&id=7707928
‘OAKLAND, CA (KGO) — Oakland could soon become the first city in the country to make growing pot in large warehouses legal. Tuesday night, the Oakland City Council started hammering out the details on how to begin issuing permits to run the factories and just four of them will be awarded.
In a matter of months growing pot in Oakland could look quite official, with row after row of budding plants tended to by workers in white lab coats.
“This is an industry that already exists; why not bring it out of the dark and into the light?” Gropech co-founder Derek Peterson said.
Peterson wants to convert a former glass factory into a 57,000 square foot marijuana factory. He hopes to get one of four coveted permits to operate a pot warehouse in Oakland — the first city in the country to legalize pot growing on this scale.
Those permits will be given out by the city based on points. 200 points for the best business model, 50 for the best security plan and a 100 bonus points for those who grow cannabis without pesticides.
Oakland now collects nearly $1 million a year in medical marijuana sales, but when the massive pot factories open, the city’s revenues could grow by millions.
But it is not just the money. City Council President Jane Brunner says large scale grow houses will actually make Oakland safer.
“I think it’s safer to have a lot (of marijuana in factories) in the flatlands by in the industrial areas than, which is what’s happening in my district, having two fancy houses and they were full of growers,” she said.
That is not what some in the East Oakland neighborhoods where most of the factories will be located say.
“A marijuana shop pops up in here ain’t no telling what’s going to happen,” Al Gabriel said.
Peterson says his factory will be the equivalent of a marijuana Fort Knox, with round the clock armed security. He has already done well in the medical marijuana business and if he gets that permit he is sure the warehouse could be a $50-$60 million a year business.
On Tuesday night, the city sent the selection process back to committee unfinished.
Meanwhile, prospective pot growers are negotiating huge land deals in anticipation of becoming one of the chosen. The pool of 179 candidates includes some heavy hitters with some deep pockets.
Council Member Larry Reid has the most industrial land in his district.
“I’ve got a meeting request from Montel Williams to meet with him this week. There are a number of serious players,” said Reid.’