A few weeks back, I wrote about the big dog and pony show the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics put on when they, along with the backing and support of Governor Stitt, busted some properly-licensed marijuana grows that were allegedly selling all of their flower on the out-of-state black market.
Although the big crackdown won’t do anything to combat the flow of illegal marijuana going out of state, it did highlight a couple of longstanding Oklahoma law enforcement traditions, like...
1. Selective Law Enforcement. Even though there are hundreds, if not thousands, of licensed marijuana grows in Oklahoma owned and operated by people of all different races, castes, and nationalities that may or may not be selling a lot of their stuff on the black market where it's more profitable, Oklahoma law enforcement made sure to selectively target those grows owned by a long-time media-approved "boogie man" – The Chinese Mafia!
2. Local Media Control. Just like with other powerful institutions, law enforcement has an all too cozy relationship with the local media, and are experts at using local news as a tool to advance their narratives and interests.
This time around, that narrative is medical marijuana in Oklahoma is an out-of-control problem, and needs more rules, regulations, and money for law enforcement to reel it in. It's a big reason why we get articles like this in yesterday's Oklahoman...
That's pretty funny. I really like how The Oklahoman ledes with the whole "150,000 marijuana plants worth $500M" number. I did the quick math, and they're basically claiming that each marijuana plant confiscated in the raid is worth $3,333. Unless it's some sort of super terp strain testing at 60% THC, that's impossible. A good, fully-grown marijuana plant will maybe, if you're lucky, yield a pound of weed, and you can maybe sell that pound of weed for about $2,000 on the black market, which is way more than you'll get on the legal one.
Of course, we shouldn't be surprised that The Oklahoman seemingly republished law enforcement-provided propaganda about marijuana without question. Like most newspapers, the paper has a long tradition of helping law enforcement spread fear and misinformation about the herb without any pushback or fact-checking.
For example, check out this article the paper published way back in 1932. From my five minutes of research, I believe it's the first time "marijuana" was printed on the paper's pages:
That's pretty cool and funny to read 90s years later. I like how they used the word "evil" to describe marijuana and also claim it will render a person sterile. Considering I was both A) Conceived and B) Have Offspring, I'm going to assume all that, like a lot of the law enforcement-approved stuff the media repeats today, was an outlandish lie.
Anyway, Oklahoma lawmakers are hard at work this session taking a look at Oklahoma marijuana laws, and likely trying to rig them to the ruling class's advantage. Knowing that, it will be interesting to see what other types of anti-marijuana propaganda make the media rounds in the coming weeks, and when or if law enforcement will start cracking down on grows owned by their other favorite boogie man – the Mexican drug cartels!
Stay with The Lost Ogle. We'll keep you advised.
