By Police Chief Scott Singer
Piedmont Police Department
Recently in the news, the twists and turns in the medical marijuana saga are or should be opening Oklahoman’s eyes to the criminalization that was inevitable once the Medical Marijuana Legalization Initiative or Oklahoma State Question 788 was voted into law in 2018.
While the language of Question 788 set specific criteria for personal use, sales, growing or cultivating, processing and transporting of marijuana for medicinal use, as with opioids, alcohol, and virtually any other form of intoxicant, someone always finds the time and money to circumvent legalized processes. For instance, recently investors (read as criminals) have invested heavily in properties upon which massive; illicit grows are found.
Being in Oklahoma, we would expect to see locals or persons from neighboring states invest in property to illegally raise crops of marijuana. However, word must really get around that Oklahoma’s open for business as buyers from Asia, and many other countries are grabbing parcels of land in the hopes of harvesting some of the illegal sales happening within our borders. If you believe that conservative Oklahoma isn’t capable of sustaining marijuana-related businesses, consider that per the Oklahoman’s reporting, “Oklahoma marijuana sales pass(ed) $1.5 billion” dollars in sales since State Question 788 took effect. And, that’s just legal sales.
In a FOX 25 reporting of illegal operations, Erika Stanish of FOX noted that Mark Woodward the spokesperson for the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics (OBN) attributes the increase in illegal operations to a lack of “tight regulations like other states, and so, it’s really the perfect place for criminals to continue to pour large amounts of high-quality marijuana on the streets, “Woodward reportedly said. Additionally, Woodward pointed out that – in essence – due to Oklahoma being more centralized in relation to cities on the west and to the north, transporting illegal marijuana to eastern states for sale is not merely convenient, but cost effective.
Now, reason would hold that the large marijuana grows, farms, and distribution of the product must be good for Oklahoma from a financial aspect. But, nothing could be farther from the truth. As with any farming enterprise, it’s reasonable to say that being a crop business, the need for preparing the land, building huge grow facilities, chemicals of many sorts to fertilize, weed and de-bug crops can pose a problem for nearby ranchers, communities, and even companies or cooperatives which supply the power for these areas all have felt a negative impact from illegal grows.
Not only are we experiencing an uptick in illegal grows, dressed in the guise of legal operations, but consider that these operations don’t build, plant, harvest and transport their product without the assistance of groups of people who willingly sell their labor and skills to cartels, gangs, and organized crime families. I find it distasteful that such cheap labor serves another purpose…to be the Boswell’s of criminal organizations to take the heat when law enforcement shows to collect not only the pot, but anyone associated with the grow. And, as with most criminal organizations, those that have risen to the top, prefer to not get their hands dirty…in a wide variety of aspects generally found to be associated with illegal business, and drugs in particular.
Too many holes in the dam!
What interests me about this particular story concerning Oklahoma’s thriving medical marijuana business, isn’t simply the lengths people will go to in forwarding the trafficking in contraband. But, that we, by establishing an ill thought out system, made investments in marijuana not only attractive but lucrative. And, considering the decline in our criminal justice system, the penalties assessed for violations of regulations, statutes, administrative rules, and virtually any vehicle by which our system seeks to curb illegal activity…is simply the cost of doing business.
Additionally, we must consider that much of the activity in Oklahoma has roots in international criminal enterprise. As mentioned above China, Mexico, many South and Central American countries as well as interests from across Europe, Africa and other nations find that the drug trade in the U.S. is well worth the effort to invest in and to try and control. But, this brings up another question. What is it that drives the risks of the wide varieties of associated troubles – including criminal penalties to sudden and violent death at the hands of competitors? The answers lie in the virtually endless demand for escapism, social acceptance, societal norms, and the eventual addiction which inevitably follows excess.
What if Ford built cars that nobody wanted?
First, my apologies to the Ford Motor Corporation. But, certainly in America, they kind of got the ball rolling with a vehicle manufacturing boom. Back to the original question however, what if no one bought any of the cars Ford built? If there’s no demand, then there’s no market. If there’s no market, it logically follow that there would be no return on the original investments of time, engineering, or the logistics of making and transporting vehicles to be sold. Therefore…it would be a waste of time.
So, herein lies the basis of the drug trade. Demand. According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), more than 48 million persons used marijuana in 2019. That equates to about 18% of the population and those numbers include persons from across the spectrums of age, race, gender and income levels. The CDC further reports that not only is marijuana use addictive, unlike previously thought, it can be the initiator of increased use of many other addictive drugs, legal and illegal. Therefore, this would seem to increase the likelihood that contrary to past beliefs, marijuana is actually a gateway drug, leading to the use of common drugs of abuse including those originally purchased legally.
While many of us have heard for years that marijuana wasn’t harmful, studies by agencies such as the CDC the National Institute for Health, and numerous other investigative groups have shown otherwise. And considering the nonchalant attitudes many abusers of cannabis have affected, it stands to reason that if the lack of caution and respect that frequent and excessive abusers of such drugs affect, then the illegal use and procurement of marijuana and many other common drugs of abuse, will continue. Next week I want to delve into the most common forms of abuse, acquisition, and profiting from not only marijuana, but as mentioned above, many of the other common drugs of abuse. While I’m starting to move away from the original topic of marijuana, I think you’ll find the effect on persons and society, whether you abuse drugs or profit from those who do abuse drugs, this is in fact a national crisis whose bounds know no limits.
Until then, consider the words of Philippine author Kynna Claire: “You can’t keep dancing with the devil then wonder why you’re in hell!”
