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It’s no secret that there isn’t a lot of love between the cops and most cannabis users. This could be because the police were hunted down for decades to increase their arrest rates and branded criminals in the public eye, or the obvious and documented abuses by the badge-wearing enforcers.
Still, with the legality of cannabis, we began to see a change in how police dealt with cannabis and cannabis users in general. In places like Colorado, Washington, Oregon, and the like, the police have become more passive about the activities of cannabis users, businesses, etc. In fact, some places found the police to work together quite comfortably.
Something is happening in California. While the state of California has seen a modest increase in crime overall, there have been some significant shifts in certain areas – namely Los Angeles, Oakland, San Francisco, and San Diego. In these locations, homicides increased by 30% and vehicle thefts and commercial break-ins increased by 20%.
This is where our story comes in – the 20% increase in burglaries appears to correspond with numerous robbed cannabis companies. A recent Forbes article described how 25 cannabis companies were broken into in two weeks, losing around $ 5 million in inventory.
According to the cannabis companies in this region, the police either do not react to the crimes or, in some cases, just let them happen.
“The San Francisco police responded to the crime scene – and then” stood by “and watched as at least three suspected burglars filled a bag with goods, piled into a getaway car, and then politely performed a three-point turn before driving one way. “- Forbes
According to the authorities, crime has risen sharply recently due to the Covid-19 pandemic. San Franciso also saw major Union Square retailers “mob-style” break-ins. In this case, however, the police were pulled through and arrests were made.
In contrast, according to Paul Chambers, a spokesman for Oakland City Police, police were aware of nearly 20 cannabis-related stores that had been “broken into” or had “attempted burglary” against the facilities.
Other than this information, the police have been very calm in their response to this increase in crime. However, their silence sparked some theories, including;
· The police do not approve of cannabis legalization. Cannabis helped replenish their arrest records, and now they no longer have this as a department resource.
· Others believe this is some form of protest in response to the George Floyd incident. In other words, they are essentially saying, “This is what a defused police force looks like …”
· Some believe the police may be hesitant due to possible “armed robbers” and their fear of prosecution under current District Attorney Chesa Boudin. In other words, police inaction could be police power play.
· Or the most logical answer – the cops are freaking out about the pandemic and are overwhelmed. After all, they are human too … or so we think.
Of course, some of these ideas are wild personal projections mixed with a bowl of good weed. We may never know the motivation for police inaction in the face of a rising crime wave.
According to Oakland Police, they are simply overwhelmed by a wave of violent crime, including murder, car theft and armed robbery. While California has seen all-time crime lows in recent years, places like Oakland and San Francisco are showing symptoms of prolonged exposure to Covid lockdowns.
The Covid aftershock
At the time of this writing, we are approaching the second year of being exposed to “Covid Enforcements” and bans, and by that point all aid funds have dried up. Most government aid has stopped and inflation has started. In some cases, prices have risen sharply over the past year.
In the case of food, we have found an increase of between 5% and 10%, depending on the item. Gas has increased by 58% in certain locations. There have been price increases across the board, but salaries have not seen similar growth.
Combine this with a large number of people who change jobs, are laid off or simply close companies due to an extended shutdown. Right now a perfect storm of poverty is brewing and when people start starving they tend to turn into a much more violent version of the human being very quickly. These are the moments when radical ideas become “attractive” as people tire of the fighting and politicians seem to be in the dark about how the average Jane and Joe thinks of “the state of affairs” – an aftershock is coming.
While many people are pro-lockdowns to keep us all “safe,” this strategy precludes considering people living from paycheck to paycheck. Those who don’t have savings or corporate appearances to transfer. These people still have to pay bills and buy groceries, and a 10% increase in price simply means there isn’t enough money for the days of the month.
For this reason, property theft, car theft and the like have increased in these areas. This behavior stems directly from the conditions created by the lockdowns and, sooner or later, unless something is done about it, it could swell into a very uncomfortable period in our human history.
After all, it took only 10 years from 1920 for the NSDAP to gain so much popularity that it became the second largest party in Germany in 1930. Nine years later we had World War II.
I am not saying, however, that conditions in Oakland during the last pandemic are even remotely close to Germany – we can view the Nazi example as an extreme response to extreme situations. People were starving, scared, broken – all it took was a charismatic asshole with a stand for death and violence to get millions of Germans to immerse themselves in one of the darkest periods in human history.
I don’t want to be a panic maker and I still think this is too early to say – however, we need to keep an eye on crime rates around the world. As this pandemic continues its current strategy, what comes after the virus could be far more dangerous.
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