Watch Out for That Violent Money

Jacob Sullum | December 12, 2007

In an interview with WCCO, a CBS affiliate in Minneapolis/St. Paul, Hennepin County Sheriff Richard Stanek makes the case for drug legalization:

More people are finding ways to make big money growing high-grade marijuana. Hennepin County Sheriff Richard Stanek is concerned about the violence that goes with it.

"Easy money. Violent money," he said....

"These are bad guys who use those firearms—rifles, shotguns, automatic weapons, handguns—to protect their assets, to protect property, to protect their marijuana trade, and that's violence," said Stanek...."Violence associated with drug-dealing happens day in and day out, and that's something I'm concerned about as Sheriff."

WCCO matter-of-factly states that "high-grade marijuana [defined as...?] is four times more addictive [measured by...?] than commercial grade" and suggests that good citizens rat out neighbors who have "people going in and out" of their homes.

[Thanks to NORML's Allen St. Pierre for the tip.]

Comments

|12.12.07 @ 6:28PM|#

FIRST!

what is commercial grade? The weed coming out of the dispensaries is very 'high-grade'.

Negro Jazz Musician|12.12.07 @ 6:31PM|#

Reefers make it so much easier to bang the young white pussy.

|12.12.07 @ 6:33PM|#

what is commercial grade?

I am guessing the schwigity-schwag. But if WoD'ers wouldn't know the baseline for judging pot potency if it fucked their dog...

|12.12.07 @ 6:48PM|#

|12.12.07 @ 6:49PM|#

If at first you don't succeed...

high-grade marijuana [defined as...?] is four times more addictive [measured by...?] than commercial grade" and suggests that good citizens rat out neighbors who have "people going in and out" of their homes.

Back when, uhhh, a friend of mine sold reefer, friends of mine, would stop by, smoke a J, drink a beer, listen to tunes or watch the tube and leave an hour or so later. Very social. I'm certain the neighbors never suspected a thing. Low volume dealing among friends doesn't get you popped, going for the gold does.

BTW, I believe the 4X as addictive pronouncement. 4 times zero is ???

greenish|12.12.07 @ 6:54PM|#

Extra credit: What number is also equal to a hundred million billion times itself?

|12.12.07 @ 6:57PM|#

"These are bad guys who use those firearms-rifles, shotguns, automatic weapons, handguns-to protect their assets, to protect property, to protect their marijuana trade, and that's violence,"

so you are saying the problem and violence is a result of not having access to formal forms of protection like police and litigation. I wonder what caused that??

|12.12.07 @ 7:02PM|#

Wow, that's a whole lot of stupid in a small space.

Derrick|12.12.07 @ 7:09PM|#

I for one am getting tired of all the marijuana addicts roaming the streets.

|12.12.07 @ 7:45PM|#

Good guys don't protect their assets and property.

|12.12.07 @ 7:46PM|#

Hey, some of us even wander around H&R! Be very afraid...
Of course I haven't actually even seen the stuff in fifteen years, but still, it's the thought that counts.

BakedPenguin|12.12.07 @ 7:46PM|#

Low volume dealing among friends doesn't get you popped, going for the gold does.

That's how I remember it, back some nearly 20 years ago when I smoked. A guy would buy a quarter pound, sell most of it to 10-12 friends, and smoke the rest. I almost thought of it more as "organizing a group buy" than "dealing". He wasn't getting rich, he was subsidizing his personal habit.

Ludwig Von Mises|12.12.07 @ 8:13PM|#

Government creates its own demand.

|12.12.07 @ 8:15PM|#

Commercial grade is the stuff used by industry.

Plant Immigration Rights Suppo|12.12.07 @ 8:21PM|#

Ahh, Commercial Grade = Industrial Hemp?

|12.12.07 @ 8:22PM|#

Oh my, Jacob, you forgot to post his picture. Is that his head or is his neck blowing a bubble?

In case anyone is interested:


Sheriff
E-Mail
[e-mail]
Phone: [phone]
FAX: [phone]
TDD: 612-348-6480
Address
Hennepin County Sheriff's Office
350 South Fifth Street, Room 6
Minneapolis, MN 55415



Now I'm gonna digg this.

|12.12.07 @ 8:38PM|#

Violent money.

Anyone who's cut themselves on a new dollar bill can attest to this. That shit kills.

Bingo|12.12.07 @ 8:54PM|#

"These are [...] guys who use those firearms-rifles, shotguns, automatic weapons, handguns-to protect their assets, to protect property, [...] and that's violence,"

Sounds like pot heads have a better idea of the value of private property than a cop does. Go figure.

Matanuska Valley Thunderfuck|12.12.07 @ 10:06PM|#

there's "mersh" (commercial, traditionally from Mexico)

there's "kind bud" (bastardized from Hawaiian "kine bud"-where kine=great)

then there's "porno bud" (bud that's worthy of a centerfold in High Times magazine)

|12.12.07 @ 10:25PM|#

Violent money.

Is it just me, or does this sound the name of a clique of Japanese rappers?

DJ Voton|12.12.07 @ 10:26PM|#

WHAT? They use GUNS to protect their assets and their property?! Those evil bastards!

BakedPenguin|12.12.07 @ 10:39PM|#

Is it just me, or does this sound the name of a clique of Japanese rappers?

We're let's fighting -
Let's fighting love...

Abdul|12.13.07 @ 8:04AM|#

Man, I'm gonna genetically engineer me some dope that's 20 times more addictive than commerical marijuana and rake in all that violent money!

I wonder if you can make a down payment on a Hawaiian luxury condominium with violent money or you have to use the regular kind.

BakedPenguin|12.13.07 @ 8:34AM|#

Oh, they'll take that violent money. Or else.

|12.13.07 @ 9:15AM|#

This just goes to show you what nonsense the myth is that marijuana doesn't cause violence. All the more reason to redouble our efforts in the war on drugs.

|12.13.07 @ 9:29AM|#

uh oh - "Amber Alert".

Are you the new Jane/Juanita?

WELL?!? ARE YOU???!!?? HUH???

*head asplodes*

Russ 2000|12.13.07 @ 9:33AM|#

4 times more addictive?

I'd say Eleventy Billion times more addictive!

4 x 0 = 0.

Lots of bright people working in local TV news.

|12.13.07 @ 9:46AM|#

From sage's link to Sheriff's bio:

...earned a masters degree in public administration from Hamline University.

Dude went to my alma mater! Pipers everywhere are hanging their heads in shame.

|12.13.07 @ 9:48AM|#

Lots of bright people working in local TV news.

Did you know a lot of journalism or communications majors in college? Not the brightest bulbs in the pack... (Not to say they were education major stupid, almost no one else is that dumb...)*

Is it just Teh Children that drives the "liberal" media to report this stuff with a straight face? If Clifford J. FlannelShirt Republican thinks all the members of the MSM are dope-smoking hippies anyway, why don't they just act like it?


*I'm sorry, I'm sure some of you know a fantastically brilliant ED mjaor, but I've personally never met one that I'd trust to open their own carton of milk.

|12.13.07 @ 9:57AM|#

Is it just Teh Children that drives the "liberal" media to report this stuff with a straight face?

Nah. Its a combination of not being very bright, feeling compelled to run the most alarmist stories to keep ratings up, and a non-critical obsession with Authority as the source of most of their material.

|12.13.07 @ 10:02AM|#

R C Dean,

Yeah, that makes sense.

But could they just spin our way for once?

"Is the government trying to TAKE AWAY your Gradma's MARIJUANA? Up next, our own Reporty McSchumckson brings you the interview the local authorities DON'T WANT YOU TO SEE!"

|12.13.07 @ 10:36AM|#

Commercial weed is your run of the mill brick weed. Although, I've seen a news report falsely claiming that 10 lbs. of confiscated "commercial grade" marijuana had a higher street value since it was "commercial." Oh the misinformation of the misinformed media.

lunchstealer|12.13.07 @ 12:02PM|#

So commercial grade weed would be the stuff you get at Haverty's or Rooms-to-Go, whereas the high-grade marijuana is the stuff you get at those scandinavian design centers in Uptown.

|12.13.07 @ 2:04PM|#

"These are bad guys who use those firearms-rifles, shotguns, automatic weapons, handguns-to protect their assets, to protect property, to protect their marijuana trade, and that's violence"

Reminds me of...

"He's dead - murdered - and somebody's responsible!" (from Plan 9)