The MarijuanaNews Report

By Richard Cowan

Once upon a time – back in the “good old days” – almost the only violence in the marijuana world was brought directly by the police. Even now, with more than 800,000 marijuana arrests last year, state violence is still the major problem.

Far too little attention is given to the problems caused by the violence of prohibition, which ripples out in all directions when someone is arrested.

Their families and friends are also the victims, especially their children, which is ironic in that “saving the children” is the excuse for the violence.

However, now there are other sources of violence to worry about.

Believe it or not, I really don’t know very many people in the “business”, but even among my acquaintances, I have heard about a lot of violence over the last few years.

A friend was making a delivery to a Las Angeles medical marijuana dispensary earlier this year and was badly injured in an armed robbery. Another friend shot a burglar in his home, and was arrested when the police found what the burglar was trying to steal. Most of the dispensaries have guards, and they need them. Even disabled patients are sometimes robbed of their medicine when they leave the dispensaries.

In Vancouver, where the grow-op business is huge, there is even a term, “grow-rips,” to describe the all too common problem of home invasions by thieves in search of the crops. Obviously, a crop is only worth stealing at harvest time, so many of these robberies must be “inside jobs.” (Growers are proud of their work and are often “indiscreet.”)

On December 5Th a Vancouver newspaper reported three shootings that appeared to be related to grow-rips at “a townhouse complex with a history of marijuana grow-op busts.”

Sometimes, the thieves hit the wrong house, and terrorize the uncomprehending residents before the thugs realize that they have hit the wrong place. (Of course, sometimes the police hit the wrong house, and terrorize the uncomprehending residents before the thugs realize that they have hit the wrong place, but that is another subject.)

Typically, the police use the problem of mistaken grow-rips – not mistaken police raids – as a justification for more police violence.

This sort of crime must be greatly under reported – for obvious reasons. Occasionally, there is a “humorous” story in the news about someone who has called the police to report a marijuana robbery, and the “punch line” is usually that the police arrest the victim, and ignore the real crime. Consequently, most victims have to suffer in silence.

Marijuana prohibition also encourages thievery because it makes it easy to sell the stolen weed. Gold coins would probably be the only commodity that would be easier sell at close to market prices than stolen cannabis, because cannabis is sold into a huge black market, where there are countless players.

In any case, the once peaceful marijuana world really is beginning to resemble the world of Al Capone, because the violence is caused by prohibition, and the resulting high contraband prices. I suppose – given the high prices – it would be surprising if there weren’t robberies, but until marijuana is taken out of the black market, and the anarchy of prohibition ends, our once peaceful marijuana world will be plagued by violence.

I would like to ask readers to share their stories about this problem, either in the comments below, or by emailing me. Be careful out there.

Richard Cowan is the former National Director of NORML and currently the publisher of MarijuanaNews.com. Email him at Cowan@MarijuanaNews.com