US cannabis buyers are facing a market with illegal weed – public radio in South Carolina

Fairfield, California. – On a fresh winter morning last month, SGT. Erin Makati watched the members of their team at the California Cannabis Control Department have complied with a search order at a Fairfield home, halfway between Sacramento and San Francisco.

They opened the door to what looked outside like any other superb suburban house on this street. Inside, the home was gutted, transformed into a smelly porridge from marijuana plants, growing lights, chemicals and pesticides.

“You can see the shape of the tarpaulin there,” Makati said. “Yes, that’s mildew.” His team also identifies chemicals and pesticides that have not been approved in the United States for use with consumer products such as legal cannabis.

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Ten years after countries first began to legalize entertainment marijuana, this is the complex world of American cannabis.

On the one hand, the weed is already as normal for many consumers as a glass of wine or a bottle of beer. A growing number of companies offers government tested, well -regulated products. But a huge amount of cannabis sold in the US still comes from Bootleg operations. California officials acknowledge that illegal sales are still far beyond transactions through licensed stores and suppliers.

According to Mcatee, it is often difficult even experienced agents to tell a weed obtained through regulated channels from criminal things.

“Our undercover will buy cannabis from people who are pretending to be legal outside,” he told NPR. “They will tell you that they have a license and that everything they do is legal.”

If it is difficult for experienced cops to distinguish regulated weeds from black market products, this can be almost impossible for average consumers. Defenders of marijuana legalization say it is disturbing that the unregulated weed plays such a big role.

“We are talking about a market that lacks transparency and accountability,” says Paul Aromo, the head of the NORML, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. He said that every time a consumer product is sold without proper adjustment, it is risky.

“Whether I get cannabis or alcohol or my broccoli from a fully unregulated market, I will worry about any number of problems,” Aromanto said.

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Black market weed thrives, raising questions for consumers

Defenders of cannabis decriminalization hoped that legal weed companies would quickly go through this problem, dimming criminal producers and processors.

The opposite has happened so far. Vanda Felbab-Brown, which is studying criminal drug markets for the Brookings institution, said regulated cannabis manufacturers often compete with a growing network of criminal gangs, often rooted in mainland China.

“They are spread from the west coast all the way to Maine,” she said.

According to Felbab-Brown, Chinese criminal organizations are attracted to marijuana business because it is a relatively low risk of being strengthened in communities. There is a relatively little pressure on law enforcement, unlike firm drugs such as fentanyl and methamphetamines.

“These illegal cannabis growing plantations are used by Chinese criminal money laundering groups, but there is increasing intertwining of human smuggling in the United States in the United States that pass through some of these networks. They actually turn into the plantations enslaved in the plantations she said.

NPR has sent an email to Chinese employees to ask about the role of organized organized crime in the US cannabis industry, but have not heard. In the past, Beijing suggested The United States is turning fingers to China to divert attention from drugs and crime problems in America.

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Experts say the sellers of crime cannabis are winding outward licensed suppliers. They do not pay taxes or expensive fees, which means that their prices are often lower. They can also sell their product anywhere in the country, ignoring federal laws that prevent legal companies from delivering cannabis to state lines.

The black market weed is then often wound on the shelves of stores packed in ways that can make it indistinguishable from the legitimate regulated cannabis.

“There will be mildew and these forbidden pesticides and herbicides that enter the illegal product, so this is a serious concern,” says Bill Jones, head of the implementation of the California Cannabis Control Department. “I’m not sure all users are aware of this.”

What should users do?

Since cannabis markets are still difficult to navigate, NPR interviewed experts said the most reliable way to find a regulated cannabis is in licensed stores in states and communities where they are allowed to work. This often means paying a higher price, but the quality compromise can be significant.

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Many countries where entertainment cannabis is legal including California and New Jersey and New York Now have online tips to help people find and buy legal marijuana. Check your brick and mortar store twice to make sure it is licensed and reputable.

Even when they work through a reliable seller, cannabis experts said it was a good idea to ask questions about supply and PotencyS

Everyone interviewed by NPR for this project said they expect it to become easier with the time for people who decide to buy and use legal marijuana. Most have indicated the fact that America has gone through this type of transition before with another popular consumer product: alcohol.

The ban on alcohol was abolished in December 1933, but many countries have held prohibitions on alcohol in books in the 1950s, creating the same kind of patchwork that we now see with marijuana laws. Bootleggers and alcohol smugglers continued to work for years.

“When you are moving from a ban on legalization, it takes time,” says Boy Kilmer, an expert on marijuana markets and co-director of the Rand Drug Research Center.

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According to Kilmer, many countries have incorrectly managed this transition, focusing too much on regulating legal weed companies without helping them compete with criminal organizations.

“After [states] Spend the legalization, they will spend a few years inventing the license regime and understand what the provisions will be and issues licenses, but there has been no great focus on what to do with the illegal market. And in many places, application has simply not been a priority. ”

This changes in some places. In part, to help legal operators compete, New York City is falling apart into unlicensed retail shops for marijuana. California officials say they have captured Nearly $ 200 million in value illegally grown cannabis last year.

Despite these efforts, weeds on the black market are expected to remain “comprehensive” for years to come, according to civil servants and drug policy experts.

In Fairfield, SGT. Makeite was watching a truck supported another illegal home, preparing to remove a large harvest of seized cannabis. He said this harve

“Many of the places we hit, they deliver their cannabis outside the condition where they can do ten times [the profit] You will do in California, ”he said.

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