One of the arguments in favor of nationwide marijuana legalization is stamping out marijuana crimes for good. In theory, there would be no crimes if marijuana were legal. But in reality, it’s a lot more complicated than that. Just ask the New York Police Department (NYPD). They recently made a huge marijuana bust despite the fact that the Empire State has decriminalized both medical and recreational marijuana.
The only way to completely eliminate all marijuana-related crimes is to fully divorce the government from the controversial plant. That means full legalization without any restrictions whatsoever. No taxes, no licenses, no labeling requirements, etc.
As long as governments attempt to legalize marijuana with restrictions, there will be people unwilling to abide by those restrictions. Hence, there will always be marijuana crime. Legalization efforts only change what those crimes look like.
More About the NY Bust
As far as the NY bust goes, police in the Bronx raided two storefronts in the same neighborhood. The first raid resulted in the seizure of 176 pounds of marijuana, just over half-a-pound of THC vapes, and some psilocybin edibles. The operators of the storefront had hidden their drugs in virtually every nook and cranny the space offered.
A few blocks down the street, the second raid seized illicit drugs from a storefront operating as a storage and distribution point. News reports are scant on details regarding what was seized in the second raid. As for police investigators, they want to know where the illicit drugs are coming from.
What Makes It All Illicit
By now you might be wondering how the drugs could be illicit if medical and recreational marijuana are both state-legal in NY. It boils down to licensing. In order to grow, process, and distribute any cannabis products in NY – be they medical or recreational in nature – you must be licensed by the state.
Your products must also pass rigorous inspections. If you are a retailer, you can only sell the products in a licensed shop. You have your own regulations to adhere to as well, regulations designed to control nearly every aspect of your business.
Needless to say, there are entrepreneurs who really want to sell marijuana but don’t want to deal with state regulations. More importantly, they do not want to pay taxes on either their sales or profit. To avoid doing so, they simply ignore licensing and reporting requirements. Now they are committing crimes.
NY Created Its Own Mess
It is important to point out that NY created the mess it now finds itself in by legalizing recreational marijuana more than a year before there was any regulatory structure to keep things under control. But even if they had done things the right way, there would still be black market operators selling on the street through unlicensed storefronts and popups.
Half-way across the country, things are a bit different in Utah. Recreational marijuana is still illegal in the Beehive State. Medical cannabis is not. The state has licensed fifteen medical cannabis pharmacies to serve the entire Utah population. Beehive Farmacy has two of those licenses to operate stores in Salt Lake City and Brigham City.
Does Utah have a black market? In all likelihood, yes. Is it as big and troublesome as New York’s black market? Probably not. There just isn’t the same kind of demand in Utah.
Nonetheless, anywhere you find both a demand for marijuana and regulations controlling how it can be produced and sold, you will have marijuana criminals. Legalizing marijuana does not prevent marijuana crimes unless the government is taken out of the equation entirely.
