PHOENIX Attorney General Terry Goddard said Tuesday he might be willing to consider legalizing marijuana if a way can be found to control its distribution and figure out who has been smoking it.
 Flanked by law enforcement officers, Attorney General Terry Goddard provides details Tuesday about the bust of a ring that smuggles marijuana into Arizona. Goddard, who said marijuana is a major source of cash for Mexican drug cartels, said the inability to measure how impaired someone is who uses marijuana is a key reason it has to be kept illegal here. (Capitol Media Services photo by Howard Fischer) |
He acknowledged those profits could be slashed if possession of marijuana were not a crime in Arizona. But Goddard said a number of other hurdles remain before that even becomes a possibility.
Goddard’s comments came following a press conference Tuesday announcing the breakup of a major ring that police said has been responsible for bringing about 400,000 pounds of marijuana across the border and into Arizona each year since 2003.
The operation has so far led to the indictment of 59 people and the arrest so far of 39 of them, some in this country legally and others who were not.
Phoenix Police Lt. Vince Piano said the operation was very sophisticated, complete with specially designed heavyduty trucks to actually let vehicles drive over the border fence.
They also had solarpowered radio towers and a network of lookouts who told the trucks, each carrying up to 2,500 pounds of marijuana, when to move and when to hide under camouflage. He said there even was a system of “food drops’’ to supply the drivers.
Piano said this operation was one of several under contract to Mexican drug lords to transport the marijuana from the border through the Tohono O’odham Reservation all the way to Phoenix.
Piano said busting this organization doesn’t stop the flow of drugs, saying this is one of several “transportation groups’’ working with the cartel. But he said it does disrupt at least part of the flow.
The issue of Arizona drug laws came up during questions about the operation of drug cartels and the violence associated with their operations, particularly in the Mexican state of Sinaloa.
“The key is, they will no longer exist when people don’t buy marijuana,’’ said Matthew Allen, special agent in charge of the office of investigations for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. “This is a marketdriven economy and this is a marketdriven activity.’’
Allen said the question of legalization to eliminate those profits is a policy question.
“But if we’re going to go down that road, what is the acceptable amount of marijuana that you want a bus driver to have in their system,’’ he continued.
“I believe it’s zero,’’ Goddard said later.
Goddard said there is a lot of time and money spent on enforcement activities like the one that resulted in the bust announced Tuesday. He said that requires “a hard look’’ at the issue.
But Goddard said it’s not as simple as simply declaring it legal. He said there would need to be some controls on who gets the drugs and how much they use.
“Right now I’ve not found, and do not know of, a way to make a prescription control over marijuana as a consumer product,’’ Goddard said. “As long as we can’t do that, as long as we can’t put it behind the counter and in a safe distribution, I don’t believe there’s any way to make it legal.’’
Goddard said no one has found a way to put the kind of controls on marijuana he would want before he would consider legalizing it.
“If they could do that, we could certainly cut the legs out of some of these criminal activities,’’ he continued. “But until they do, we’re going to have to continue to go after the folks that are moving marijuana and are thereby funding violent crimes throughout the hemisphere.’’
Allen backed up Goddard’s statements that the smuggling operation is not simply about marijuana.
He said Mexican cartels also are in the business of smuggling cocaine and other drugs on behalf of other cartels in places like Columbia.
He said they make up the money they lose when those drugs are seized through the profits they make selling marijuana in the United States.
Comments
Johnny wrote on Jan 20, 2009 8:21 AM:
Holland has a good model set up now, CLUBS, just follow it, AND THE GOVERNMENT DOES'NT GET ANY TAXES THEY DONT GROW IT, AND IN THIS COUNTRY YOU CAN LET HALF THE JAIL POPULATION GO, OOPS, FORGOT IT WONT WORK BECAUSE IT WILL UPSET THE APPLE CART "
Ming the Merciless wrote on Jan 20, 2009 8:04 AM:
dolphin wrote on Jan 19, 2009 3:14 AM:
Standardized testing would therefore be in order for any and all persons who are clocking-in for work of any kind. The criteria previously mentioned is a broad spectrum I would assume could potentiate impairment for any person. This "standard" by which to measure normal function would have to be set upon hire or when reaction time and or cognitive function could be demonstrated at full capability -or- continually, so as to create a mean average. I personally see a market for a machine of sorts that would replace the average punch card/method of "clock-in". If one deviates from the norm on their usual reaction test their "punch" would be negated or re-tried and or re-measured. Maybe I'm on my way to a patent but I would pose this as a solution to the bus driver, whether drunken or distraught. I personally wouldn't want anyone distracted to be driving my kids around, or handling my bank statement, or fixing my car, or performing a surgery. Controlling a
person's profit by means of keeping them honest is the solution to all of these forementioned problems. Here's a proposition: lets think like a politician for a minute. Let's create this machine and sell it to the special interest groups and campaign financiers that are the bodies behind the faces we "elect". But what's a product without a demand? Well, if these groups pressure the elected to legalize something and or anything to be tested for- that sounds like demand to me. Especially when the product to be in question for testing is taxable, legalized, and tariff-able. Look at that, I just created some jobs, I will need to start an assembly line to put one or two of these in every sober establishment across the country. "
dolphin wrote on Jan 19, 2009 3:13 AM:
We don't need guns for this or senseless violence, we need a simple limonade-stand-mentality. Entrepreneurship. "
pantagruel wrote on Dec 28, 2008 11:10 AM:
friedaMae wrote on Dec 26, 2008 2:00 PM:
Hangovers
Stress
Pain
Illness
Divorce/Marriage/Death
Sleep Deprivation
Fatigue
If you have Ever heard anyone say; "I'm just not myself today, I was up all night with a sick child" then that person is Impaired.
Lets opt for Impairment Testing instead of body fluid exams. They (UA's)are useless and are mainly targeting Cannabis consumers because Cannabis Metabolites will stay in your system weeks to months post last use, yet the Effects from cannabis wear off in 2-3 hours.
It will truly go far in workplace/Public Safety. "