Decriminalization and then legalization of
marijuana in Colorado was ‘sold’ in part to end victim less crime and free law
enforcement resources to focus on other criminal activity. Didn’t work.
There must be big money being made for
this level of criminal activity to exist. There is big money being spent by the
criminal justice system to combat it.
Since the shit is now legal, the question
is why?
As far as I can tell, the biggest change
is harassment of Colorado residents when we travel in adjacent states. We are “greenies”
and not just because of our license plate color.
Shortly after Colorado relaxed marijuana
laws, I had business in Kansas City, KS. Crossing Kansas I was stopped three
times for bullshit reasons (my blinker only flashed twice, not three times
during a lane change, etc.) All three stops had a dialog along these lines.
“I’m just giving you a warning this time.
Do you mind if I search your car for drugs? We have a big problem with drugs
coming in from Colorado".
Each time when I declined, things got
pissy. Oh, well. I flunked the Dale Carnegie course.
Since lots of people more knowledgeable
than I can’t figure this out, guess I will remain confused.
6 comments:
Sounds like you live in a state that you can't stand. Me, too. I'm not going to die here, however. As soon as our daughter graduates from high school, and is accepted to a college south of here (she hates snow as much as we do), we are dumping our Illinois residence and are Texas bound.
Already have a lot there, ready to construct a compound. I hear all Texans have compounds, where they do whatever the hell they want. Sounds good to me.
Fredd
I have a COLOEXIT plan. Until then will fight the fucking (P)regressives.
Disney says that the people in fly-over country are all despicable. They're leaving Georgia and are taking their toys back to Hollywood, a moral high ground of probity, honor, and perfect behavior. I found that interesting.
In Arizona, or at least in the part of Arizona where I live, people stay out of each other's business. I have been pleased with the results. My general contractor said that he was broke and had no intentions of painting the outside of the hovel that I live in. I said that his broke situation wasn't really my problem and that I wasn't giving him another penny. And I left things be. It seems that an angel landed on his shoulder and he has a crew here painting now, no additional expense to me. I didn't utter a single threat and the court system wasn't required to intervene. It's rural Arizona and the court system is not how problems are solved. He mortgaged his residence to make me happy. Things have worked like this in rural Arizona for a long time.
My sense is that if you keep your dope use to your own home, the local sheriff's deputy (We have one. The nearest back up is an hour away) will leave you alone. It's a libertarian approach.
Colorado has a lot of hippies who were magnetically drawn to the place from Oregon, California and elsewhere. They are not comfortable in the Arizona highlands. And that's OK with me. The locals don't like hippies and neither do the Indians.
LL
In much of rural Colorado, the law are peace officers. Don't go bothering others and they won't be bothering you.
The waves of hippies that came to the state were of two kinds. Dead broke, or the children of wealth who's parents were glad to dump them on someone else.
For many years the Denver Metro area had more federal employees than Washington, D.C.
The state has a lurid history of corruption and scandals that is not as blatant as say, Chicago, but it is there and Denver has always been a mean place underneath the gloss.
Late 50's Denver P.D. ran a burglary ring. Early 60's, 10% of the sworn force went to prison.
Nowadays the money and power is on the Denver-Boulder-Castle Rock corridor. Don't see that changing soon.
WSF- If you have to travel, you're better off renting a car WITHOUT Colorado plates. Considering the number of cars with Colorado plates that get stopped on 287 carrying drugs, it's just about to the point that Colorado plates IS probable cause... sigh
Old NFO
It is a problem. The Enterprise office I rent from seldom has a vehicle with CO plates.
The profiling makes me appreciate how minorities feel. If I'm breaking the law, pull me over. Finding some B.S. excuse like not signaling a proper lane change?
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