# War on drugs...at a profit. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 23, 2015, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-on-drugs-at-a-profit/735577 "2015-10-23T21:16:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2015, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-on-drugs-at-a-profit/735577/1 "2015-10-23T21:16:39Z")
Ok so we have several states where marijuana is legally sold and distributed. As I understand it, most confiscated drugs are destroyed. Why not come up with a mechanism by which when law enforcement seizes a shipment of MJ it goes to a distribution center where legal dispensaries can buy from. Sure there can be batches of crappy stuff that nobody will buy. To avoid potential favoritism have some kind of random lottery allowing: Government agencies Non profit organizations small business startups or things like that to enter into a drawing. Structured properly, hundreds if not thousands of small business startups or NPO’s could benefit from the war on drugs instead of burning the stuff. ---
**Author:** ![boffking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/858c86/32.png) [@boffking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boffking)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2015, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-on-drugs-at-a-profit/735577/2 "2015-10-24T01:36:10Z")
Let’s not do anything to further encourage the war on drugs. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2015, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-on-drugs-at-a-profit/735577/3 "2015-10-24T02:11:55Z")
Because not all drugs are of the same potency, some have different impurities, stuff like that, you don’t really know quite what that seized drug might contain, therefore it’s a really bad idea to turn around and attempt to distribute it. ---
**Author:** ![brickbacon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@brickbacon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brickbacon)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2015, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-on-drugs-at-a-profit/735577/4 "2015-10-24T05:21:59Z")
Weed isn’t actually legal anywhere according to the federal government, so your plan is a nonstarter. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2015, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-on-drugs-at-a-profit/735577/5 "2015-10-24T13:58:23Z")
Presumably for the same reason that the ATF doesn’t take seized moonshine and hand it over to Costco. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2015, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-on-drugs-at-a-profit/735577/6 "2015-10-24T17:07:13Z")
Feds: Here’s a bunch or seized cocaine and heroin to make your opiate drugs with. You’re welcome! Drug company: Um… well… uh we have no idea how this stuff was processed or what impurities it has. The drugs we make have to be pure and the process controlled. Feds: Oh it’s good stuff! The junkies all said so. Drug company: I… even so we really can’t use this. The liability risk would be insane! Feds: OK … be that way then! ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2015, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-on-drugs-at-a-profit/735577/7 "2015-10-24T17:27:58Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Presumably for the same reason that the ATF doesn’t take seized moonshine and hand it over to Costco. They can use all that seized moonshine perfectly well among themselves. I had a close relative (now deceased of natural causes) who was some kind of Federal government investigator for much of his career. (Don’t know much details – he didn’t talk much about it.) He said that ATF and DEA are the most corrupt agencies in the whole Federal government. (He was always a staunch hard-right-conservative lawn-order conservative, so when he says some Federal law enforcement agency is crooked, I assume there’s some credibility there.) ---
**Author:** ![GrumpyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-on-drugs-at-a-profit/735577/8 "2015-10-25T13:51:01Z")
Medical MJ dispensaries are pretty strict about their sources to ensure potency, cleanliness (free of mould, etc), and freedom from pesticides. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-on-drugs-at-a-profit/735577/9 "2015-10-25T14:05:25Z")
War on drugs? What? Oh, you mean [the war on _some_ drugs.](http://www.nationalreview.com/article/204865/war-some-drugs-deroy-murdock) oh, ok.