Biggest Marijuana Bust in Colorado History Occurs After Legalization

“As we have been active this year in the handful of states legitimately considering legalizing marijuana, we have asked lawmakers to look to the example of Colorado,” said Dr. Kevin Sabet, president and founder of Smart Approaches to Marijuana and a former senior drug policy advisor to the Obama Administration. “Every day it seems more and more data come out of Colorado alone that should convince lawmakers that marijuana legalization is a failed policy. Black markets are out of control in states that have gone down this path.”

“Colorado has become the epicenter of black-market marijuana in the United States,” said Jason Dunn, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Colorado in a press conference Friday. “We want people to know these grow operations are not occurring in abandoned houses or poorer parts of the metro area. These are happening in middle- and upper-class neighborhoods, [where] many of us live and raise families.”

According to data collected for an upcoming SAM report on the impact of legalization, U.S. states that have moved to legalize the substance have seen drastic increases in black market activity as a result of legalization. In California, as much as 80% of the drug sold in the state originates from the black market and Governor Gavin Newsom recently was forced to send in the National Guard to combat illegal grows.

In Massachusetts, 75% of marijuana sales occur on the black market. Law enforcement in Washington State are struggling to arrest illicit growers who grow illegal marijuana next to legal grows in an attempt to shield their operations.

U.S. states are not alone in experiencing this specific downside to legalization. In Canada, which legalized marijuana nationwide last summer, it is estimated that 79% of sales were on the black market.

“Colorado was once a tourist haven for its beautiful natural resources, now both its main attraction and main export is marijuana,” continued Dr. Sabet. “If a powerful black market, increased drugged driving crashes and fatalities, and exposure of highly potent marijuana products to kids is attractive to lawmakers and voters, by all means legalize the commercial sale of marijuana. If not, it’s time to end this failed policy and put health and safety ahead of the desires of Big Marijuana.”