Week of Cannabis Review 06/11/2022: Texans w/ personal possession is most frequent border traffic stop, legalization reported to be undermining Mexican cartels

This is our short weekly review of what’s going on in cannabis in the week of 06/11/2022. An analysis of border patrol and DPS border traffic stops capture mainly US citizens with small marijuana possession, the GAO reports that most border patrol stops are capturing low level marijuana offenders of one ounce or less, and the congressional research service has reported that legalization in the US and Canada is undermining cannabis trafficking of cartels from Mexico into the US.   Audio player included directly below for those on the go.

This past week in cannabis news, Greg Abbott touted that “Operation Lone Star has led to: more than 242,000 apprehensions and more than 14,000 criminal arrests. Within those numbers sits a statistic that many do not realize was part of the count: small amounts of marijuana with no other crime. 

Operation Lone Star has led to:

*More than 242,000 apprehensions
*More than 14,000 criminal arrests
*Over 344 M lethal doses of fentanyl seized
*Over 4,700 weapons seized

Thank you to the brave men & women who work every day to protect Texas & the nation.https://t.co/CHc4lVWI6O

— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) May 7, 2022

This is Texans caught with small amounts of marijuana during routine traffic stops nowhere near the border, according to an analysis by The Dallas Morning News. Nowhere near the border is a rather subjective term now, as the SCOTUS has recently ruled on a case that leaves up 100 miles within the border a special buffer zone. To include coast lines, the zone doesn’t require border officials or anybody working in that capacity to have a warrant to enter a property and do a search. 

The data showed the one out of every 5 arrests made, would be something either citable with just a ticket, or even less in major cities such as Austin

Victor Manjarrez Jr, a former border patrol chief who now teaches at the University of Texas at El Paso, told the Dallas Morning News that he questioned the inclusion of low-level marijuana charges that lack a nexus with the border.

“No one would ever say that it’s a cartel smuggling 2 ounces at a time,” Manjarrez said.

Rep. James White, a Hillister Republican who chairs a House homeland security committee, said arrests attributed to the operation should have a connection to the border. For example, he would expect cartel members caught with small amounts of marijuana to be included in the count.

“If they have no nexus to the mission, those metrics really shouldn’t be in the data pool,” White said.

This has led to confusion within activist communities as the governor has also stated during his 2022 campaign that he believes the state should not be arresting people for low level possession. As well, confusion comes in as departments to include DPS had stated that they would not be focusing on low level amounts or any case where it may be conflated with possession of hemp products. 

At the same time, the Government Accountability Office has reported that most U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint drug seizures target Americans with small amounts of marijuana as revealed by a federal report.

“GAO found that most drug seizure events involved only U.S. citizens (91 percent), of which 75 percent involved the seizure of marijuana and no other drugs,” the report states.

The report states that in 2017 the office found that 2 percent of Border Patrol apprehensions occurred at checkpoints and that 40 percent of contraband seizures at checkpoints were 1 ounce or less of marijuana from U.S. citizens.

Most drug seizure events involved only U.S. citizens, and the majority of those U.S. citizen drug seizure events involved the seizure of marijuana and no other drugs. Less than 10 percent of the marijuana Border Patrol seized nationwide was found at checkpoints.

This coincides with the earlier report that the numbers for seizures are from traffic stops outside of the border checkpoint.

The GAO report does show that the amount of seizures for marijuana has decreased from 2016 to 2020 by about 50 percent. Seizures for other drugs such as fentanyl and heroin have gone up.

Border Patrol officials from all selected checkpoints the GAO met with told them that U.S. Attorney’s offices in their sector generally do not prosecute people for possessing personal use quantities of marijuana. In such cases, people from whom marijuana is seized may be (1) referred to state or local authorities for criminal investigation or (2) released. As of March 2022, adult possession of a personal use quantity of marijuana is legal in the following states that have checkpoints: Arizona, California, Maine, New Mexico, New York, and Vermont.

The Congressional Research Service reported that as legalization in the United States and Canada moves forward, demand for marijuana from Mexico continues to drop. 

According to the State Department’s 2022 International Narcotics Control Strategy Reports, U.S. seizures of imported marijuana began to decline in 2019. Authorities are projecting a continued decline in U.S. demand for Mexican marijuana because drugs “other than marijuana” will likely dominate the cross border traffic. This is partially due to legalized medical and nonmedical/recreational cannabis in many U.S. states and Canada, reducing its value as part of Mexican trafficking organizations’ portfolio. 

The report outlines many cartels the government is aware of in Mexico. From there it notes that changes in the illegal drug markets in the United States and Canada from marijuana legalization; increased demand for opioids, especially synthetic opioids; and changing patterns of use of methamphetamine and other drugs have contributed to the drug trafficking organizations (DTO’s) continuing evolution.

As well, the report shows that even with cartel embedded into the Mexican government, that there have been crackdown on some of the organizations operations which also forces a change in how DTO’s operate and what they move.