Anchorage Weed Store Gets Hit by Grinch; State May Share Culpability

http://www.newsminer.com/news/alaska_news/k-worth-of-marijuana-stolen-from-anchorage-business/article_6e7c51af-f83d-5bae-b8b3-25b3ae22f661.html

$150K worth of marijuana stolen from Anchorage business

-----------------------------------------

Don’t know if the antis will try to use this as ammunition or not.

I do suspect there’s a greater black market for weed than there is for alcohol, and we rarely see a HUGE theft from liquor stores; the antis may use that angle as well.

Seems the thieves left some DNA behind by way of blood. Apparently not skilled at breaking glass without risk to selves or others. Points toward greedy amateurs.

Also wondered if the value of the heist was based on per gram value, or what. Not that it matters too awful much

Glad it wasn’t my inventory.

Interesting facts at the article re. the State posting floor plan/ lay-outs on-line, as well as owners’ home addresses, as protocol, and the inherent safety and other concerns raised by this.
----------------------------------

Dang it. Karma be with whoever stole the green. Hate when that happens. Grrr!

Yep. With specific and catalogued(?) varieties, a large amount hitting retail distribution, fast enough to make such a move worthwhile, someone in the market with a trained eye, nose and taste buds may well spot the bandits when/if they try to sell.

moose eater said:

Yep. With specific and catalogued(?) varieties, a large amount hitting retail distribution, fast enough to make such a move worthwhile, someone in the market with a trained eye, nose and taste buds may well spot the bandits when/if they try to sell.

Click to expand...

Sure hope so. Wouldn't that be just reward- they being caught?

I suspect a weed store with pics of product and good description on-hand (as many retail outlets are prone to having) distributing or posting that info, and announcing a hefty reward, might make justice more expedient. I bet an offer of $5,000 or $10,000 for -useful- info would get results.

On the other hand, if they render it all into some sort of extract, then..... all bets are off.

The pigs are pissed, they just lost out on a five figure tax revenue bounty.

In case some don't cut and paste or click on the link, the story covers the owner's criticisms that include the State of Alaska showing floor plans/lay-outs for canna businesses, as well as owners' home addresses, on-line.

The owner stated that in the security video, the thieves appeared to know exactly where they were going, opened no doors not related to the larger inventory, and maybe (??) knew where the cameras were.

If you were running a business with a valuable, compact, desirable product, would you want the State posting your ins and outs of your lay-out, including access doors and location of inventory, on-line??

In my opinion, that's like the Gov casing a job for the thieves, saving them a step during which they might be most apt to stand out and be noticed.

Then throw in a home address for the owners, just in case there's some truly heavy hitters out there who are into forcing the release of cash AND inventory.

Some of this stuff is mind-numbingly ignorant, in my opinion.

Danish Gardens and other Alaska marijuana businesses have raised the online-documents issue through their attorneys, but have been "stonewalled" in response, Wyrick said.


Can't imagine they make those who sell weapons or narcotics post such video content.

"I do suspect there’s a greater black market for weed than there is for alcohol, and we rarely see a HUGE theft from liquor stores; the antis may use that angle as well."

That's true for only populations on the road system. In hundreds of villages across the state black market booze rules. Buy $10 bottles of booze from anchorage or fairbanks and turn them over for $300-400 each in the villages. Booze is more popular than weed. No need to knock over liquor stores when it's so cheap.

Gry said:

Danish Gardens and other Alaska marijuana businesses have raised the online-documents issue through their attorneys, but have been "stonewalled" in response, Wyrick said.


Can't imagine they make those who sell weapons or narcotics post such video content.

Click to expand...

Yeah, I wondered about the State's logic behind posting floor plans
on-line, assuming there -is- any actual thoughtfulness behind it.

The only thing I could come up with is perhaps some hyper-vigilant (read: 'paranoid') controller/LEO anticipated weed stores being targeted by serious bandits, and if they wanted to send in a SERT Team (Alaska State Trooper's version of SWAT), they might want easier access to what they were going into. but that was the only semi-rational explanation I could conjure.

stoned40yrs said:

"I do suspect there’s a greater black market for weed than there is for alcohol, and we rarely see a HUGE theft from liquor stores; the antis may use that angle as well."

That's true for only populations on the road system. In hundreds of villages across the state black market booze rules. Buy $10 bottles of booze from anchorage or fairbanks and turn them over for $300-400 each in the villages. Booze is more popular than weed. No need to knock over liquor stores when it's so cheap.

Click to expand...

Yep, in the bush specifically, it's a whole different ball game in the dry villages and/or surrounding regions.

I've known persons who took weed and/or alcohol into the bush. Some places where the G'wichin prefer weed over alcohol for the difference in pharmacological mayhem, one compared to the other. Same villages would turn you in in a heart-beat for booze trafficking. not an across-the-board story.

I served 29 villages out on the Alaska Peninsula in the mid-1980s. From up by Iliamna/Nondalton, all the way out to Ivanof Bay (one of my favorite villages aside from the Chigniks out on that stretch).

A former professor at UAF got popped a bit over a decade and a half ago (Bob Logan, I think his name was) flying booze and reefer into the dry areas up north. Cost him a plane, a bunch of money, &, I believe, his career. He was an economics guy at the U, if I recall correctly, with a libertarian bent. Can't remember if he did any time, though I suspect he served some.

Back then it was $7 to $10 bottles of rot gut cheapo whiskey in town, bringing about $150/bottle in the majority of the bush locations.

Good bud in town back then was often $800 - $1,000 per 1/4-lb. on the in-town market, but in the bush it would often fetch more than twice that amount; anywhere from $2,000 to $3,000 a qp..

That was all traffic I avoided. Knew some folks on a more personal basis who engaged that business once or twice, but it was a move best undertaken when a person knew someone well in the receiving village, from whom to get informal approval of passage; 'paving the way,' as it were..

In one village, the VPSO walked in and bought everything they had at a bit of a discount; he was apparently the primary local weed dealer, as well as the village cop, and he presented a 'compromise' where everyone walked away happy, including him.

Back in the Colombian days in Fairbanks, about 36 years ago, I knew a questionable dealer who I quickly determined was not to be dealt with; a former MP in the Army, wasn't into the 'trade' for politics, philosophy, or any special cosmic belief in MJ. He was simply in it for greed & greenbacks. He'd take a lb. of Colombian, remove ~6 oz. on average, and steam that much water back into it, then, with water droplets visible in the corners of the plastic, ship it out to the bush for 50% more than in-town price for dryer and better weed. And even then, his lbs often didn't add up to weight without the gallon zip. In-town dry lbs were $500 to $550 back then, and he was routinely sending saturated lbs to the bush for $750

It takes all kinds.

But in town, there's not so much black market demand for the alcohol. In the couple of cases of road-connected villages that also happen to be dry, they can drive to the next cross-roads and score their booze. Gulkana comes to mind.

Product not stored in a decent safe, $150K is less than 50 pounds, should have spent $10K on a solid safe bolted to the floor.

Probably so, though 50 lbs. in smaller pre-weighed amounts would take up a fair bit of storage space.

I lived off the river system up north for years, had weapons, cash, weed, stereo equipment, tools, and nose candy in-house, without a lock on the door. Finally put a hasp and padlock on it in about 1984 or so.

There's always been pilfering and such in Alaska, opportunists traveling into the urban centers, coming from out-lying places with no economy to speak of, etc., and the constant low hum of urban-based ne'er-do-wells' activities of this nature, but it seems as though property crimes (specifically property crimes) are on the rise. I may be wrong.

A weed store safe needs to be about 50 cubic feet to hold that amount of merchandise, about the size of a closet or so.

Man...
Weed stores need vaults not safes!

I mean... They’re handling cash like a damn bank so why not have similar security?
Anything less is asking to become a robbery victim!
And if the state requires a video surveillance systems videos to be placed in public domain, I am of the opinion that the state is 100% responsible for the robbery! The States job is to protect individuals security, not compromise it!

MJPassion said:

Man...
Weed stores need vaults not safes!

I mean... They’re handling cash like a damn bank so why not have similar security?
Anything less is asking to become a robbery victim!
And if the state requires a video surveillance systems videos to be placed in public domain, I am of the opinion that the state is 100% responsible for the robbery! The States job is to protect individuals security, not compromise it!

Click to expand...

I don't know if the video footage is available on-line to the average person, other than through a hack, maybe.

But the report reads as though the camera placement/lay-out, as well as floor-plans are available to anyone who logs into the site(s). (Wonder if the thieves' visit to the State's or businesses on-line site, if it occurred, is traceable?).

The owner said the footage of the thieves showed them not even bothering to open up doors that were unrelated, going straight for the stash, instead...

I suspect the way weight is parceled out for retail sale (the story stated, I thought, that the weed taken was pre-packaged) the storage space needed would be greater than for 50-lbs. sealed in bulk, as lbs. 454 sealed slips/pouches, or canisters, or what ever, per lb. adds a lot of space. Some of it likely in 1/4 oz. packs, or even greater, but still... A lot of packaging.

And as you point out, cash to be stored, even if only during the shift or business hours.

I'd wager there's discussion currently re-visiting the wisdom of having business floor-plans available on-line. And even more so if they're posting security camera locations on-line as part of that plan.

As a side note, pre-legalization, this all would've been handled without the involvement of the authorities or the press. And potentially gotten a lot uglier than it may.

moose eater said:

In case some don't cut and paste or click on the link, the story covers the owner's criticisms that include the State of Alaska showing floor plans/lay-outs for canna businesses, as well as owners' home addresses, on-line.

The owner stated that in the security video, the thieves appeared to know exactly where they were going, opened no doors not related to the larger inventory, and maybe (??) knew where the cameras were.

If you were running a business with a valuable, compact, desirable product, would you want the State posting your ins and outs of your lay-out, including access doors and location of inventory, on-line??

In my opinion, that's like the Gov casing a job for the thieves, saving them a step during which they might be most apt to stand out and be noticed.

Then throw in a home address for the owners, just in case there's some truly heavy hitters out there who are into forcing the release of cash AND inventory.

Some of this stuff is mind-numbingly ignorant, in my opinion.

Click to expand...

MJPassion said:

Man...
Weed stores need vaults not safes!

I mean... They’re handling cash like a damn bank so why not have similar security?
Anything less is asking to become a robbery victim!
And if the state requires a video surveillance systems videos to be placed in public domain, I am of the opinion that the state is 100% responsible for the robbery! The States job is to protect individuals security, not compromise it!

Click to expand...

two contrasting opinion.
i'll second the notion that the state is responsible, and go one more that the local constabulary was involved...of course it could be insurance fraud also. just opining, carry on

A question I haven't answered for myself yet, is, can canna businesses even buy insurance? I believe my carrier sites federal law as the Holy Grail of guidance in such things, even re. small home-grows.

No telling who's behind this heist at this time, though they either lacked the ability to control their own adrenaline, or lacked training re. removing glass abruptly without causing injury; one or the other, or both.

I get contemplative re. the need for security, arguing sometimes with myself.

In a perfect world, no one should have to spend money to protect what's theirs from someone willing to take it without proper cause. At the same time, it's the real world, where at least 2-3% are willing to consider such actions.

Anchorage is a small city, in contrast to the greater metropolises in the Lower-48; last I checked, I think it was between 350,000 and 370,000 people there, or close to that. May be dropping some soon, considering the State's economy.

Selling 50 lbs of relatively consistent quality and characteristics of maybe (guessing) 5-10 strains, may stand out. I hope so.

Of course, proving source by way of "Well, your honor, it tastes/looks/smells like mine," etc. might get dicey. I suspect proof of ownership would/could/might involve mass spectrometry, gas chromatography, or isotopes for the knock-out.

I have a hardcore dislike for thieves.

At the same time, it's the real world, where at least 2-3% are willing to consider such actions.

Click to expand...

Government employment in the USA - including federal, state and local organizations - constitutes over 7% of the country's population.

aridbud said:

Dang it. Karma be with whoever stole the green. Hate when that happens. Grrr!

Click to expand...

How's it going Duke? Been sued yet this year?