The Kansas Attorney General’s Office published a report earlier this month that said that marijuana from Colorado has permeated nearly every county in Kansas despite authorities assurances that it wouldn’t infiltrate states where marijuana remains illegal.
Tony Wolf, Geary County Sheriff, said that there has definitely been increased marijuana activity since the legalization in Colorado.
“We’ve seen a lot more, and a lot of it that comes out of Colorado,” said Wolf. “We have had numerous drug arrests where the individuals have stated that it was purchased in Colorado.”
Wolf said that the marijuana coming out of Colorado is at a much higher potency than the marijuana from the Mexican cartel.
“We are finding extremely high grade marijuana coming out of Colorado, this is not like the older marijuana that we were finding several years ago that would come out of Mexico – this stuff is extremely high, high quality and it’s affecting people in ways that we really never have seen before,” said Wolf.
Two men from Nebraska were so “high” off of the Colorado marijuana that they called the police on themselves, and Wolf said stories like that are funny – but show a dark reality of the type of potency law enforcement is dealing with.
“It’s not your father’s or parent’s marijuana that they had back in those days, this stuff is extremely potent,” said Wolf.
In addition to the potent marijuana from Colorado, there are the synthetic versions that in many cases are sending people to the hospital; this is where you see the hallucinogenic drugs, and simulated controlled substance charges in the Geary County booking photos.
Beyond the many forms of marijuana that are circulating, the quality and accessibility of marijuana in Colorado has had an effect on the usage of other drugs.
“The Mexican Cartels they don’t hardly deal in marijuana anymore, they’re dealing more in heroin and methamphetamines – that’s what’s coming across the border,” said Wolf.
The increase in those drugs coming across the border explain the surge in heroin use and overdoses that have been documented and gone viral on social media across the country.
As for Geary County, Wolf said that heroin use hasn’t had quite the surge that it’s had in other parts of the country. “We haven’t seen a surge in heroin use yet…fortunately no, we haven’t seen any real cases of that.”
But that doesn’t rule out the possibility.
“The Mexican Cartels [in other parts of the country] aren’t making any money off of marijuana anymore so they’re sending up methamphetamines and heroin, and that’s where a lot of that is coming from,” said Wolf.
Could the legalization of marijuana in other states and specifically in Colorado cause an increase in not only marijuana usage in neighboring states, but other highly dangerous drugs as well?
Tell us what you think. Sound off in the comments.
A Junction City Fire Department medic unit responded on October 11,2015 to the home of Heather Ryan, Junction City.
