Gangland

[DblDwn11]

Not sure if all of you saw this article in the Province Sunday -- pretty damning review of Kelowna's decline.


http://www.theprovince.com/news/Gangsters+growth+turning+Kelowna+into+paradise+lost/8005211/story.html

Made me wonder what Penticton can do to make sure it doesn't happen to us...if the political pressure to clamp down on gang lifestyle in Kelowna ramps up, what's to say they don't just move down the valley?

[Bsuds]

All ready being discussed here viewtopic.php?f=23&t=49407

[DblDwn11]

All ready being discussed here viewtopic.php?f=23&t=49407

Different discussion being had there vs what I had posted.

[fluffy]

Made me wonder what Penticton can do to make sure it doesn't happen to us...

Not an easy question to answer. These days gang profits flow chiefly from the drug trade, so as long as there are people buying drugs there will be those who step up to supply them.

[Graham Adder]

there will

ALWAYS

be people buying drugs

[fluffy]

And since it's unlikely we will see any movement towards legalizing the heavier addictive drugs it looks like there will always be an attraction for the criminal element.

[Queen K]

There will always be a need for Crossroad services, in any given large to medium density town.

[fluffy]

Huh?

[Queen K]

I figured my statement was in order of the natural progression of the drug trade.

Always drug runners.
Always buyers.
Always criminal element.
Always subsidized rehab.

No?

[Graham Adder]

Always subsidized rehab.

No?

Yes...once the drugs are legalized so they can be controlled, regulated and taxed to fund the programs necessary to combat the issues that have been, are and will be present on account of human nature.

Naturally.

[fluffy]

No?

Yea, I suppose. I'm just having a hard time tying that back to organized crime.

[fluffy]

Yes...once the drugs are legalized so they can be controlled, regulated and taxed to fund the programs necessary to combat the issues that have been, are and will be present on account of human nature.

Naturally.

I doubt we'll ever see any legalization in hard drugs. Cocaine, meth, heroine are the big culprits here. Dealers love them because they attract er, steady customers. Not to say that organized crime isn't involved in pot distribution, but I'd wager the money is better in hard drugs so that's where their focus would be.

[twobits]

Not to say that organized crime isn't involved in pot distribution, but I'd wager the money is better in hard drugs so that's where their focus would be.

Maybe not fluff

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illegal_drug_trade

While the recreational use of (and consequently the distribution of) cannabis is illegal in most countries throughout the world, it is available by prescription or recommendation in many places, including Canada and some US states, with Washington state and Colorado being the two first states to legalize marijuana for recreational use. [19] Cannabis use is tolerated in some areas, most notably the Netherlands which has legalized the possession and licensed sale (but not production) of the drug. Many nations have decriminalized the possession of small amounts of marijuana. Due to the hardy nature of the Cannabis plant, marijuana is grown all across the world and is today the world's most popular illegal drug with the highest availability. Cannabis is grown legally in many countries for industrial, non-drug use (known as hemp) as well. Cannabis-Hemp may also be planted for other non-drug domestic purposes such as seasoning in Aceh.

The demand for cannabis around the world, coupled with the drug's relative ease of cultivation, makes the illicit cannabis trade one of the primary ways in which organized criminal groups finance many of their activities. In Mexico, for example, the illicit trafficking of cannabis is thought to constitute the majority of many of the cartels' earnings.[20] and thus the main way in which they (the cartels) finance many other illegal activities ranging from the purchase of other illegal drugs for trafficking and weapons that are ultimately used to commit murders (causing a burgeoning in the homicide rates of many areas of the world, but particularly Latin America).[21][22]

[Graham Adder]

...I'd wager the money is better in hard drugs so that's where their focus would be.

Only wager what you can afford to toss away to the wind.
The margins for pot FAR exceed the hard drugs at this point.
Although the hard drugs are a very lucrative products, it's the incredible, outrageous and ongoing/growing demand for our lush, heady, sticky, pungent, thick smoking or heavy vaporizing effective buddies that really draw the quid.

time to light a fire

[fluffy]

But from the organized crime end isn't pot an export product that makes the money to bring cocaine and opiates into the province ? What is it that the gangs inhabiting Kelowna actually do to make their money and does that market exist in Penticton ?