Source: Washington Post
by Scott Eden
“Not long ago, I reported a story for a book about a cannabis start-up founder who, like many licensed operators, mixed legal and illicit business, and wound up killed. The story began in 2016 and unfolded during the turbulent early stages of California’s cannabis legalization gold rush. But a decade later, the promise that legal weed would reduce crime has failed. The reasons are political and economic. A laissez-faire attitude prevails over weed in police departments and district attorney offices across the country. Resources have been directed away from cannabis. But the real driver of organized, violent crime in the cannabis business isn’t the lack of law enforcement. It’s the black market’s existence.” (01/26/26)