The violence in Colorado after recreational marijuana became legalized has raised concerns among police, prosecutors and pot advocates that a black market for marijuana is alive and well in Colorado, according to the Washington Times.
"It has done nothing more than enhance the opportunity for the black market," said Lt. Mark Comte of the Colorado Springs police vice and narcotics unit, the Times reported. "If you can get it tax-free on the corner, you're going to get it on the corner."
Under Colorado's voter-approved law, it is legal to possess up to an ounce of marijuana, according to the Times.
Authorities are concerned that means illegal dealers and buyers believe they can avoid prosecution, the Times reported. These dealers and their customers also tend to be targets, if robbers know they are flush with cash.
Arapahoe County, outside Denver, has seen "a growing number of drug rips and outright burglaries and robberies of people who have large amounts of marijuana or cash on them," said District Attorney George Brauchler, according to the Times.
Elsewhere, prosecutors say, Nathaniel Tallman, 25, was killed during a January drug deal when he was robbed and shot, and his body dumped in Wyoming, the Times reported. The next month, a dealer mugged three people who were trying to buy marijuana from him in a Denver grocery store parking lot.
Voters who approved recreational sales in Colorado also agreed to a 12.9 percent state sales tax and a 15 percent excise tax on it, according to the Times. Local jurisdictions can also add their own taxes.
Those taxes mean an ounce of pot can go for $400 or more at a state-sanctioned store, depending on quality and potency, the Times reported. An ounce on the street can run between $200 and $280, depending on how much a dealer wants to profit.
"Those barriers to entry already create the potential for the black market, and then you add these taxes on top of it, and it makes it impossible to get rid of," said Denver attorney Robert Corry, who helped write the pot legalization measure but opposed the taxes, according to the Times.
Colorado has more than 160 state-licensed stores, but they remain concentrated in the Denver area, the Times reported.
