{"id":6980,"date":"2016-11-15T02:02:30","date_gmt":"2016-11-15T02:02:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/?p=2221510"},"modified":"2016-11-15T02:02:30","modified_gmt":"2016-11-15T02:02:30","slug":"colorado-governor-calls-marijuana-gray-market-a-clear-and-present-danger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/colorado-governor-calls-marijuana-gray-market-a-clear-and-present-danger\/","title":{"rendered":"Colorado governor calls marijuana gray market \u201ca clear and present danger\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"wp_fb_like_button\" style=\"margin:5px 0 5px 5px;float:right;height:100px;\"><script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/colorado-governor-calls-marijuana-gray-market-a-clear-and-present-danger\/\" send=\"true\" layout=\"standard\" width=\"450\" show_faces=\"false\" font=\"arial\" action=\"like\" colorscheme=\"light\"><\/fb:like><\/div><p>Gov. John Hickenlooper on Monday called <a href=\"http:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2014\/12\/19\/after-pot-legalization-focusing-on-a-new-kind-of-black-market\/\">the marijuana gray market<\/a> in Colorado a \u201cclear and present danger\u201d that demands tougher regulations and enforcement.<\/p>\n<p>Reacting to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/2016\/05\/06\/pueblo-pot-bust-200-marijuana-plants-seized-2-arrested-17th-since-march\/53740\/\">recent busts<\/a>, Hickenlooper said the state must \u201cmove swiftly and aggressively to make sure the illegal activity is stamped out.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf we don\u2019t stamp it out right now, it becomes acceptable. And then, all of a sudden, people are going to start getting hurt,\u201d the Democrat said in an interview. \u201cIf you let crime grow, it will breed on its opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The concern about Colorado-grown marijuana being sold illegally in other states is increasing after a recent crackdown\u00a0by local and federal law enforcement that led to indictments from the U.S. attorney\u2019s office.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2016\/07\/12\/wide-scale-illegal-pot-operation-pueblo-west-florida\/\">In March<\/a>, a DEA Drug Task Force raided five homes in Pueblo West and seized 1,879 marijuana plants, 16 pounds of processed marijuana and nine handguns and shotguns, according to court records. Seven men were indicted in U.S. District court on 13 counts of illegal marijuana production and distribution.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI take this very seriously,\u201d Hickenlooper said. \u201cThis is one of the things we worried about in the very beginning. But when we see the evidence, we better respond.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The governor\u2019s remarks came after he asked state lawmakers to set aside $16 million in marijuana tax revenues for new initiatives related to controlling the gray market as part of his <a href=\"http:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2016\/11\/01\/2018-colorado-budget-john-hickenlooper-cuts\/\">$28.5 billion state budget proposal<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The extra dollars would cover the cost of law enforcement investigations and prosecutions. The administration also is considering legislation to tighten regulations on who can grow marijuana at home and the number of plants allowed.<\/p>\n<p>The illegal trade is operating as part of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2014\/12\/19\/after-pot-legalization-focusing-on-a-new-kind-of-black-market\/\">the gray market<\/a>, in which marijuana is grown legally but sold illegally. The state\u2019s medicinal marijuana law allows patients and caregivers to grow up to 99 plants in a residential setting, while the state\u2019s recreational marijuana law allows growers to form vast cooperatives cultivating six plants per individual.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_73999\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter size-article_inline\"><img class=\" lazyautosizes lazyload\" src=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/colorado-governor-calls-marijuana-gray-market-a-clear-and-present-danger\" alt=\"Pueblo authorities seized 79 marijuana plants at a home inhabited by two Russian immigrants, Olga Berina and Evegnly Groshikov, who recently moved to southern Colorado.\" width=\"654\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/colorado-governor-calls-marijuana-gray-market-a-clear-and-present-danger\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/colorado-governor-calls-marijuana-gray-market-a-clear-and-present-danger 620w,https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.denverpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/20160413__pot-bust-pueblop1.jpg?w=780&#038;crop=0%2C0px%2C100%2C9999px 780w,https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.denverpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/20160413__pot-bust-pueblop1.jpg?w=810&#038;crop=0%2C0px%2C100%2C9999px 810w,https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.denverpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/20160413__pot-bust-pueblop1.jpg?w=630&#038;crop=0%2C0px%2C100%2C9999px 630w\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">\n<p>Denver Post file<\/p>\n<p>Pueblo authorities seize 79 marijuana plants at a home inhabited by Russian immigrants Olga Berina and Evegnly Groshikov, who recently moved to southern Colorado.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Rachel Gillette, the acting interim executive director at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.coloradonorml.org\/about\/board-of-directors\">Colorado Norml<\/a>, a marijuana advocacy organization, said growers need to operate within the bounds of the law, and she is worried additional state regulations will go too far.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe bottom line is you can write a bazillion laws, but if people are willing to break them \u2026 it doesn\u2019t necessarily help,\u201d she said. \u201cThe part of the reason this gray market even exists is because the federal government refuses to acknowledge the medical efficacy of marijuana, as well as continues to follow archaic law pertaining to a drug war that has clearly failed.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Reacting to recent busts, Hickenlooper said the state must \u201cmove swiftly and aggressively to make sure the illegal activity is stamped out.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6867,6811,6857,2097,6813,77,6814,6815,9,5019,1,3,61,1736],"tags":[6868,6816,6859,4665,6818,2655,6819,6820,5022],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6980"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6980"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6980\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}