Legal weed didn’t stop illegal deals

It wasn’t so long ago that marijuana was illegal in Massachusetts. But even though cannabis sales and use have the green light in the Bay State, illicit deals haven’t disappeared — they’ve just been refined.

In Massachusetts, marijuana retailers are prohibited from knowingly selling more than one ounce of pot or its dry-weight equivalence to a customer within a single day. Illicit dealers get around that by visiting a licensed cannabis store several times in one day, buying the maximum allowed on each visit, aka “looping.” They also visit several shops to make buys on the same day, known as “smurfing.”

Armed with fresh supplies, they either sell across state lines, or to local customers.

Crime finds a way. Washington State, which legalized marijuana in 2012, serves as a good example of the industry’s downsides.

They, too, have issues with illegal sales across state lines (greatly impacted by falling prices on the product due to an abundant supply), and illegal sales in-state.

A 2019 report for the Washington State Liquor & Cannabis Board Diversion estimated that as much as 35% of cannabis consumed in the state moves in illegal channels.

One can understand people from states without legalized pot being good target consumers for illegal weed, but why would instate folks choose to buy from a dealer instead of a legal retailer, other than a break on price?

The Washington report shed some light: Some cannabis consumers reportedly trust their dealers more than they do testing labs and retail “bud tenders.” In marijuana as in any industry, client relationships are key. Secondly, illicit dealers often deliver.

And now smurfing and looping have come east, and the welcome is far from warm.

As the Boston Herald reported, the state Cannabis Control Commission and Attorney General Maura Healey’s office said they are looking to create a multiagency task force to, among other things, find ways to blunt “smurfs” and “loopers.”

But Massachusetts has something going for it that Washington does not: Andrew Lelling.

U.S. Attorney Lelling and the Drug Enforcement Administration both vowed to continue to crack down on weed violations.

“As I have said in the past, the U.S. Attorney’s Office continues to pursue marijuana enforcement and will review potential matters on a case-by-case basis,” Lelling said in a statement. “We continue to police interstate transportation of marijuana along with incoming or outgoing shipments of cash and use of the federal banking system.”

The Drug Enforcement Administration said the opioid epidemic remains a focus, but agents will not ignore pot violations.

Though the opioid crisis is top of mind for the DEA, spokesman Tim Desmond said, “DEA will not turn its head to other violations, including those involving marijuana.” He added, “Anyone in possession of or distributing a controlled substance could potentially face prosecution. The likelihood to be prosecuted for marijuana can be especially true if you take or ship marijuana across state lines to states where there are no state marijuana laws.”

Anyone who’s followed news of Lelling and co.’s many drug busts, including September’s “Operation Devil’s Highway,” which netted 14 kilos of fentanyl, know that he means business.

And as more retailers get into legal pot sales, illegal dealers will continue to game the system. But they’ve been warned.