Robber Gangs Terrorize Colorado Pot Shops

[mfcorey1]

One thief, posing as a delivery man, pulled a can of bear mace on employees and ransacked their marijuana shop, fleeing in a defensive cloud of “ultra-pepper” spray. Another opened the wall of a dispensary with an ax and attacked the store’s safe with a circular saw. Still another stuck to the basics. He kicked in the front door and pointed his gun at the counterman. An accomplice kicked in the back door and filled a duffel bag with more than $10,000 worth of high-quality cannabis.

For weeks now, the Mile High state has allowed the sale of recreational pot to adults, and so far the Rockies still stand. But crimes like the ones above, all of which occurred in Colorado in the last six months, have produced an acid-drip of anxiety in the industry, highlighting the dangers faced by those hoping to drag America’s most popular illegal drug into the light. Because marijuana remains banned by Congress, banks and security firms deny services to most dispensaries. That leaves them cash-based and vulnerable, a magnet for criminals who like the idea of unguarded counting rooms and shelves lined with lucrative horticulture.

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/legal-pot/robber-gangs-terrorize-colorado-pot-shops-n20111

[ScreamingMeemie]

1. This sounds like the "robber gangs" that terrorize cigarette shops around here.

One time, they knocked a 10x12 foot whole through the wall of the empty store next door to get through to the corner store I worked in.

[get the red out]

5. Fast Food restaurants here

We've had a fast food restaurant hit every few nights in a city of about 260,000; not exactly a giant metropolis. Crimes of opportunity.

[KurtNYC]

6. Someone in NYC took a 4'x6' grid of mailboxes out of the residential lobby of a building

to break through to the shoe store at 74th and Columbus. Once inside they were able to get nothing but an empty cash drawer and 120 left shoes (the displays).

[Sunlei]

2. Same thing would happen with jewelry or liquor stores if they were forced to deal in cash,

with no security.

[CBGLuthier]

3. The shops will just have to improve the economy some more and hire guards.

The same thing would happen at casinos too if they did not have all those men with guns working for them.

[NightWatcher]

4. BP glass, drop safes, end cash sales

I thought Holder said banks could work with pot shops without fear of prosecution.

There's always a few bumps to be worked out

[okaawhatever]

10. They don't have the new regs set up yet. I did think it was something that was coming soon. nt

[jakeXT]

7. predictable /nt

[Cha]

8. DAMN!

[Warren DeMontague]

9. People rob liquor stores, too.

The good news is that the police resources now not being wasted on breaking down the doors of pot smokers and hauling them off to prison for getting high, can be used to arrest actual criminals like these.

[Renew Deal]

13. It mentions liquor stores

But it points out that marijuana shops can't use banks, so there's tons of cash around.

[Warren DeMontague]

14. Seems like a fairly obvious solution, then.

Put the cops and the DEA agents, and the billions of dollars which otherwise would be used to arrest pot smokers and keep them in prison, in charge of guarding the stores--- until they can use the banks like everyone else.

[joshcryer]

16. These robberies have been going on forever. They don't leave cash.

Leaving a lot of cash has sunk dispensaries in the past. But they do leave the product, they really have no choice and it can be replaced from the grow farm fairly easily. The article does mention counting rooms or other cash being robbed, but those are rare, they require either an inside guy to know when the cash gets transferred or a plan, and robbers aren't known to be good planners.

[Drew Richards]

11. watch it turn out to be cops...

[Renew Deal]

12. That article has a lot of crazy stories

[joshcryer]

15. This problem wouldn't exist were it not for the dispensary monopoly.

Regular retailers can't get a license to sell pot until June 1st. So only dispensaries are allowed to sell. Already existing medical marijuana dispensaries, mind you. This is a supply constraint, and it has also led to the cost of marijuana being artificially inflated. Once any retailer can apply for a license and once they start selling (cigarette shops, mom and pop stores, liquor stores) this problem will slowly go away.

[uncle ray]

19. few, if any of those you listed will sell cannabis.

as anybody watching the CO legal pot scene knows, it costs literally tens of thousands of dollars per year to be compliant. slim chance of picking up an eighth when you pick up a fifth. as long as "vertical integration" is the norm, you will not see a liquor store selling cannabis. how many liquor store owners do you know who want to grow 70% of the pot they sell? i'm not going to find it, but i'm quite sure that the legislation regulating the implementation of A64 forbids alcohol establishments from selling pot.

i'm not crazy about the closed market right now, but concede that it is a factor in the shift to legal pot in CO being a success so far. if we had opened the floodgates on jan 1, the regulators would have been completely overwhelmed, much as they were for the first couple of years of the medicinal green rush.

of course, "the problem" doesn't even really exist, most of the news stories of dispensary robberies note that the crooks left empty handed, and are often caught in the act, due to the extensive security in place in most stores.

[Luminous Animal]

17. Crazy. We have pot clubs all over San Francisco and we are not

seeing these kind of attacks.

[Jesus Malverde]

18. Yes and no...

The article is a mix of what happens at dispensaries and grows.

In northern california there are plenty of robberies and other craziness including a few murders on the grow side. Recently the murder of Garrett Rodriguez and the case being broken by vigilantes is an amazing tale.

http://lostcoastoutpost.com/2013/dec/17/humboldt-county-coroner-confirms-ids-remains-garre/

In southern california we have the case where a dispensary owner took his growers to vegas and showed them a good time. They got the idea from the trip that he was a baller who had money buried in the desert. They kidnapped him and tortured him and let him go but not before they cut his penis off.

Four charged in kidnapping, cutting off California man’s penis during robbery
Four people were charged Friday with kidnapping and torturing a California medical marijuana dispensary owner because they believed he was hiding large amounts of cash in the desert. During the robbery attempt, three of suspects allegedly cut of the victim's penis and drove away with it so it couldn't be reattached.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/4-charged-kidnapping-driving-man-penis-robbery-article-1.1511556

The cannabis trade is interesting in that it operates in a grey area which means while it has some mainstream participants, the trade also has a large number of mavericks or members of organized criminal conspiracies.