美国国家公共电台 NPR Despite Legalization, Marijuana Black Market Hides In Plain Sight

 

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

All right. Legalized marijuana, it turns out, does not necessarily mean the end of marijuana crime. That's what authorities are discovering in Washington state, one of the first to legalize recreational pot. Five years into that experiment, there is still a black market and even criminal networks with international ties.

MARTIN KASTE, BYLINE¹: You may not be aware of this, but we're in the middle of a marijuana glut² right now. Growers in Washington state are producing so much, the wholesale³ prices have cratered⁴. Jeremy Moberg runs a licensed⁵ outdoor pot farm in Okanogan County. He uses plastic sheeting to keep the chill off his newest crop.

JEREMY MOBERG: One of these hoops⁶ is going to produce probably about a hundred pounds.

KASTE: So here's the classic AG question - what kind of price is he getting?

MOBERG: Oh, if - top dollar in packaging, right? I mean, we're paying packaging, all the costs associated with doing real business. And you're going to get maybe $1,500 a pound - tops. That's the highest amount.

KASTE: That's not much. And he says other growers are getting even less. Some can barely cover their costs. And that's where the temptation begins because if they could sell this same pot in a state where it's still against the law, they'd make three or four times the money.

MOBERG: I have a strong enough fear for prison and enforcement to not think about that too much, but I'm sure those that are just totally under water and lost all their money, I think it's a huge incentive⁷ for them to think that they could divert out of the state.

KASTE: Diverting Washington pot to other states is very illegal, but some are taking the risk. In recent months, people from this rural area of Washington have been pulled over in Arkansas and Wyoming - caught transporting loads of high-grade marijuana. Meanwhile, a couple of the growers in this region have been cited for being sloppy⁸ about keeping track of what happens to their legal crop.

STEVE MOREHEAD: We have cameras here in the corner, here, here. This room's pretty well covered.

KASTE: It's Steve Morehead's job to watch out for that. He does spot-checks on licensed pot farms.

MOREHEAD: Every plant that is eight inches or taller needs to have a tag on it. The ones that are in these pots, they all have a tag on them. That's what I'm looking for.

KASTE: Morehead's a retired⁹ state trooper. Now, he's an enforcement officer for the state's Liquor and Cannabis Board. It's been quite the career change. And one thing he admits he's still not used to is the skunky smell.

MOREHEAD: My wife will make me strip my clothes off in the garage before I come in the house. And they go right into the washer after they air out for a while.

KASTE: In his SUV, between inspections¹⁰, he says he knows that these growers are facing a big temptation to divert legal product to the black market. And the state's tracking system is not foolproof.

MOREHEAD: There is a lot of the honor system. How many ounces or how many pounds did you take off these plants? There's a lot of honor system for the licensee. We're trusting them to input¹¹ good information.

KASTE: Just a couple of weeks ago, he investigated a licensed grower who was caught using pot to pay one of his workers - a big violation¹² of state rules. And there's something else that's complicating¹³ things here for Washington's pot police. It turns out there are still illegal pot grows in the state, that is, growers who don't have licenses¹⁴, are not paying taxes or keeping track of their product, but they're pretending they're legitimate¹⁵.

STEVE BROWN: All of this was marijuana last year.

KASTE: This is the Okanogan County chief criminal deputy, Steve Brown. He's standing¹⁶ among the junk left over from an illegal pot farm that he helped to raid last fall.

BROWN: I said, show me your permit. It's in the building. Well, go get it. Well, I don't really have it. I said, look, you guys got 10,000 pounds of weed here.

KASTE: This 10-acre crop was near the road, right next to a licensed pot farm. In the old days, Brown says, at least they would have hid this up in the hills.

BROWN: Now it's just out in the open because, you know, everywhere you drive in the county and you look, there's a black 8-foot-tall fence or, you know, some type of fencing. And so everybody just assumes that, well, must be another legal grow going in.

KASTE: Investigators¹⁷ assume that the illegal growers come to Washington to blend in while they grow pot to export to other states. They also run less legal risk here. For instance, this farm turned out to be just 1 of 6 pot-growing properties in the Okanogan region, all of them owned by a network of people with connections to California and Thailand. It's the very definition of a criminal network, and yet the state penalties were relatively¹⁸ light. Branden Platter is the prosecutor¹⁹.

BRANDEN PLATTER: Most of them actually were either released on personal recognizance or had low bail²⁰. For the most part, you know, nobody was looking at a lot of time.

KASTE: The stakes would be higher under federal law, but he says the DEA chose not to pick up the case. And that's interesting because the feds had warned that they'd be watching out for just this kind of thing - organized crime and cross-border trafficking. Washington's licensed growers are hoping that the feds won't see cases like this as a reason to intervene here, but what the state's legal system needs more than anything right now is higher prices for those who are playing by the rules.

Martin Kaste, NPR News, Okanogan County, Wash.

1 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

2 glut   

n.存货过多，供过于求；v.狼吞虎咽

参考例句：

• The glut of coffee led to a sharp drop in prices.咖啡供过于求道致价格急剧下跌。
• There's a glut of agricultural products in Western Europe.西欧的农产品供过于求。

3 wholesale   

n.批发；adv.以批发方式；vt.批发，成批出售

参考例句：

• The retail dealer buys at wholesale and sells at retail.零售商批发购进货物，以零售价卖出。
• Such shoes usually wholesale for much less.这种鞋批发出售通常要便宜得多。

4 cratered   

adj.有坑洞的，多坑的v.火山口( crater的过去分词 )；弹坑等

参考例句：

• The surface cratered with the constant dropping of water. 表面因经常滴水而成坑。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Artillery cratered the roads. 炮击后大路布满了弹坑。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

5 licensed   

adj.得到许可的v.许可，颁发执照(license的过去式和过去分词)

参考例句：

• The new drug has not yet been licensed in the US. 这种新药尚未在美国获得许可。
• Is that gun licensed? 那支枪有持枪执照吗？

6 hoops   

n.箍( hoop的名词复数 )；（篮球）篮圈；（旧时儿童玩的）大环子；（两端埋在地里的）小铁弓

参考例句：

• a barrel bound with iron hoops 用铁箍箍紧的桶
• Hoops in Paris were wider this season and skirts were shorter. 在巴黎，这个季节的裙圈比较宽大，裙裾却短一些。 来自飘（部分）

7 incentive   

n.刺激；动力；鼓励；诱因；动机

参考例句：

• Money is still a major incentive in most occupations.在许多职业中，钱仍是主要的鼓励因素。
• He hasn't much incentive to work hard.他没有努力工作的动机。

8 sloppy   

adj.邋遢的，不整洁的

参考例句：

• If you do such sloppy work again,I promise I'll fail you.要是下次作业你再马马虎虎，我话说在头里，可要给你打不及格了。
• Mother constantly picked at him for being sloppy.母亲不断地批评他懒散。

9 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

10 inspections   

n.检查( inspection的名词复数 )；检验；视察；检阅

参考例句：

• Regular inspections are carried out at the prison. 经常有人来视察这座监狱。
• Government inspections ensure a high degree of uniformity in the standard of service. 政府检查确保了在服务标准方面的高度一致。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 input   

n.输入(物)；投入；vt.把(数据等)输入计算机

参考例句：

• I will forever be grateful for his considerable input.我将永远感激他的大量投入。
• All this information had to be input onto the computer.所有这些信息都必须输入计算机。

12 violation   

n.违反(行为)，违背(行为)，侵犯

参考例句：

• He roared that was a violation of the rules.他大声说，那是违反规则的。
• He was fined 200 dollars for violation of traffic regulation.他因违反交通规则被罚款200美元。

13 complicating   

使复杂化( complicate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• High spiking fever with chills is suggestive of a complicating pylephlebitis. 伴有寒战的高热，暗示合并门静脉炎。
• In America these actions become executive puberty rites, complicating relationships that are already complicated enough. 在美国，这些行动成了行政青春期的惯例，使本来已经够复杂的关系变得更复杂了。

14 licenses   

n.执照( license的名词复数 )v.批准，许可，颁发执照( license的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Drivers have ten days' grace to renew their licenses. 驾驶员更换执照有10天的宽限期。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Jewish firms couldn't get import or export licenses or raw materials. 犹太人的企业得不到进出口许可证或原料。 来自辞典例句

15 legitimate   

adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法

参考例句：

• Sickness is a legitimate reason for asking for leave.生病是请假的一个正当的理由。
• That's a perfectly legitimate fear.怀有这种恐惧完全在情理之中。

16 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

17 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

18 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

19 prosecutor   

n.起诉人；检察官，公诉人

参考例句：

• The defender argued down the prosecutor at the court.辩护人在法庭上驳倒了起诉人。
• The prosecutor would tear your testimony to pieces.检查官会把你的证言驳得体无完肤。

20 bail   

v.舀（水），保释；n.保证金，保释，保释人

参考例句：

• One of the prisoner's friends offered to bail him out.犯人的一个朋友答应保释他出来。
• She has been granted conditional bail.她被准予有条件保释。