Original Article located on The Daily Beast
Pot use in the United States is rising sharply, and voters may make it fully legal in two states this fall. Smart businessmen are banking on that happening.
Full dark in downtown Denver, and inside one of the twinkling high-rises
that make the skyline, drug dealers are putting money into envelopes.
They’re trying to be discreet. No one signed the security logbook in the
lobby. All assume the room could be bugged.
But if your image of the
drug trade involves armed gangs or young men in parked cars, these
dealers offer a surreal counterpoint. There’s a finance veteran, two
children of the Ivy League, multiple lawyers, and the son of a police
chief. At their side is a Pulitzer Prize–winning communications
consultant, two state lobbyists, and a nationally known political
operative. And the guest of honor: a state senator who likes the look of
those envelopes being stuffed.
“What’s the maximum contribution?” one of the dealers asks. “Do you take
cash?” wonders another. A third man breaks into a smile. “You better,”
he says, eyebrows dancing, “because the banks don’t like doing business
with us.” Laughter fills the room as the envelopes are passed forward
and slipped into a briefcase. “Huge thank you, everyone,” the politician
says, guiding the conversation back to the next legislative session and
the kinds of legal changes this group would like to see. Here again,
it’s not what you’d expect: there’s talk of a youth
drug-abuse-prevention program and a bill to define “drugged” driving.
When the politician finally rises to leave, after more than an hour, the
dealers, in their pressed shirts and suit jackets, clap heartily. The
average participant looks to be about 35, white and male, and on good
terms with a barber. “Thank you,” the politician says, bowing slightly.
“Thank you for what you do.”
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