Quote:
|
Originally Posted by floatingslowly
as they say in the white neighborhood, let's cut the crap, guy.
you and I both know that you do not want jackboots having your state-issued and cross-referenced identification card devoured by Echelon and spat back at LAPD Mainframe:01; which would then, obviously, be forward the data to scores of other state agencies, namely, LAUSD-BoE and your local PTA.
I can dig it, jack.
if that shit were regulated like smokes and liquor (instead of a system that in spite of HIPAA certainly adds you to some .gov *sql, somewhere), you would be LOL-TTLY-4-IT.
just sayin'.
|
No seriously, the entire culture of the emerald triangle has changed, and quite literally on the streets the gangsters all push that "kush" now when they used to push speed and compressed mexican cess. Sensimilla used to largely be a holistic and local thing, and the stuff from the Triangle was equally reputable. Now that cartel hyrdo has taken over the market, it has gotten challenging (not impossible) to find decent, high-grade, flavorful, soil grown sensi... This major push began as the store front pot shops starting showing up around 2006 and 2007. We had this law since 1996 and it was strengthened in 2004 with a legislative refinement, but this law never supported shops which is why they never existed. If you ask me, you nailed it the mainframe aspect, I've always felt it was a ploy to lure all the underground growers and distributors under the guise of easy money and a sense of legitimacy. These guys do this for a living, a lot of them were fooled into believing suddenly they were like vineyardists because they worked with pot shops. Meanwhile as you mentioned, the Feds and the 1-timez were quietly raiding and shutting these things down daily. What is worse (and THIS IS HOW THE GANGSTERS GOT INVOLVED) (A) gangsters and cartels pooled their resources to invest in grow houses to supply pot shops, and (b) they began setting up unlicensed shops anywhere for a month at a time just to push. Strip malls are confused about the laws, so they just wait till the cops come, and a lot of these shops then (LA County estimates are upwards of 25-50% at any given time) are quick cartel operations. This is how gangs and drug cartels crept into what used to be a lovely
craft industry in California.
In the early 2000s gangsters had crap weed, now they got the good shit and they know it. In the early 2000s a minority of professionals did all the growing, now a lot of cartels have gotten into that game because it is so much more lucrative than the old school "Mexican" compressed stuff they used to work with..
Further, the medical card movement is a joke, and it abused sick folks to make recreational consumers switch from breaking one law to the other. Either legalize it or don't. For me, the best thing has been the further decriminalization signed by Arnold, it reduced under an ounce to a parking ticket which is also not required to be reported to any agencies. In others words, like it never happened
Oh yeah, how is Obama in on all this? Well aside from obvious CIA and FBI connections with the dealers and networks (after all, its an American tradition), the Obama administration late in 2009 released an official statement through the Justice Department that they would not target medical marijuana in California. In actuality, the DEA just shut down 71 shops last week (which in all actuality they should be doing by the way, its kinda their gig and its a cat and mouse game many folks have grown to like) contrary to the White Houses public stance.