A massive shipment of 1,800 pounds of suspected black-market marijuana from California was intercepted in Georgia on Tuesday, with authorities saying the drugs were destined for Atlanta and Orlando.
The shipment originated in Sacramento, where recreational marijuana is legal, according to the Butts County Sheriff’s Office. Sheriff Gary Long said about half of the marijuana was bound for Atlanta, while the rest was headed to Orlando.
The sheriff’s office did not say where or how the shipment was intercepted, whether anyone was arrested or whether charges were filed.
Long used the seizure to make his case that legalizing marijuana does not eliminate illegal sales.
“But here is the reality: the black market isn’t going away,” Long said in a press release announcing the seizure.
Marijuana laws vary among the three states connected to the shipment. California allows recreational marijuana, while Georgia and Florida allow marijuana only for certain medical uses.
“The illegal marijuana trade does not stop at the state line,” Long said.
Long said Mexican drug-trafficking organizations and other criminal groups continue to move large amounts of marijuana across state lines. The sheriff’s office did not say the shipment seized Tuesday was connected to a cartel or any other criminal organization.
The sheriff also argued that illegal sellers can undercut licensed marijuana businesses because they don’t pay taxes or licensing fees or have to follow testing and other regulatory requirements.
“As long as there is demand and money to be made, illegal dealers will continue to operate,” Long said.
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Long urged Georgia lawmakers to look closely at what has happened in states that have legalized marijuana before making changes to Georgia’s laws.
He pointed to California, which has changed its cannabis tax and regulatory system while continuing to fight illegal marijuana sales. He also cited past ballot initiatives filed in Colorado seeking to repeal constitutional provisions that legalized recreational marijuana, though those efforts did not reverse legalization.
“That should be a warning to Georgia,” Long said. “We should learn from the experiences of states that have already gone down this road instead of repeating the same mistakes and then spending years trying to fix them.”
Long said his statement was not meant to settle the question of whether marijuana should be legal. Instead, he argued that lawmakers need to consider how illegal sales and trafficking would fit into any changes to Georgia law.
“Georgia, let’s get it right the first time,” Long said.
