How Texas Pot Smugglers Set Up Shop in Colorado

One reporter finds that marijuana smugglers have been able to blend in among Colorado’s many grow houses: “Pot there seems to be like handguns here.”

By Alexandra HartSeptember 28, 2016 11:38 am,

When Texans think of drug smuggling, the image of drug mules crossing treacherous terrain at the border likely comes to mind, maybe even cartels and drug gangs.

It’s no secret that Colorado is the cannabis capital of the U.S. – its marijuana industry sales totaled $996 million in 2015. But some of that Rocky Mountain high is making it into Texas in a big way.

Dane Schiller, reporter for the Houston Chronicle, says there’s so much pot in Colorado that Texas growers are able to blend in.

“Nobody gives them a second look, with the medical marijuana laws and the recreational laws and the dispensaries,” he says. “Pot there seems to be like handguns here.”

What you’ll hear in this segment:

– How most smugglers from Colorado to Texas don’t seem to have prior criminal records
– Where most of the smugglers seem to come from (hint: they’re not connected to the Mexican cartels)
– What advantage Colorado’s law requiring grow houses to be indoors gives to Texas smugglers

Post by Hannah McBride.