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You are here: Home / Humorous / The Legal Marijuana Crime Wave

The Legal Marijuana Crime Wave

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They warned us that legal pot would lead to a crime wave, and they were right:

Colorado officials are hoping the difference of one-hundredth of a mile will curb thefts of highway markers after the 420 mile marker sign along Interstate 70 was targeted multiple times.

Amy Ford of the Colorado Department of Transportation says the “MILE 420” sign near Stratton was stolen for the last time sometime in the last year, and officials replaced it with a sign that says “MILE 419.99.”

Here’s the history of 420. BTW, I haven’t heard anyone cheer at 7:14 during a game or event for decades, so I guess those guys have all but died off.

Reader Interactions

56Comments

  3. 3.

    max

    the 420 mile marker sign along Interstate 70 was targeted multiple times.

    No surprise. They used to constantly steal the duck Xing signs near my house.

    @Zam: I must admit I would be more inclined to steal a sign that said 419.99 than one that said 420.

    It would be awesome if they’d put up a ‘MILE 2.718281828’ marker.

    max
    [‘Too cool for bureaucracy.’]

  4. 4.

    smintheus

    Why didn’t they simply install a video cam and fine the bejeezus out of the thieves? No need for speed traps with a steady supply of potential revenue like this.

  6. 6.

    PaulW

    Here’s an idea: the state of Colorado can print and sell those signs. Sure, they’ll still have some jokers trying to steal it, but there’s hundreds more who’ll buy one…

  7. 7.

    PaulW

    @smintheus:

    Why didn’t they simply install a video cam and fine the bejeezus out of the thieves? No need for speed traps with a steady supply of potential revenue like this.

    ‘Cause the thieves will steal the video cam. Think this through…

  8. 8.

    SFAW

    @max:

    It would be awesome if they’d put up a ‘MILE 2.718281828′ marker.

    No, it would be natural.

    (Sorry for the attempted nerd “humour.”)

  9. 9.

    Graham

    Id pay $25 for a 714….$50 for a Rorer instead of a Lemon…Stale or not….just for old times sake. Not dead yet….

  10. 10.

    tybee

    we once had a cat named 714.
    called it 7 for short.
    then we got a second cat.
    named it 6 because it was smaller.

    and that reminds me of a joke that used to get our 6 year old to cackle wildly:
    why is 6 afraid of 7?
    because 7 8 9

  12. 12.

    c u n d gulag

    To whoever the idiot is/was who thought the signs were stolen by pot smokers because 420 represents Hitler’s birthday, well, of course you’re right – because people who smoke pot are notorious for being white supremacists and Fascists.

    I couldn’t have been REAL white supremacists and Fascist wannabe’s! No, it was pot smoking Fascists!

    Sheesh…

  13. 13.

    Arm The Homeless

    Tru-fact:

    One time a Jefferson County, CO sheriff pulled me over and found my stash and a pipe. The cop remarked how nice my piece was, made me break it, dump my bag and sent me home.

    That was a nice LEO.

    FIN.

  16. 16.

    SFAW

    OK, I admit I’m out of touch, but the only 714 reference I can think of is Babe Ruth’s home runs. Anyone care to help the light dawn on Marblehead?

  22. 22.

    Villago Delenda Est

    That asshat Chancellor at the University of Colorado INSURED that 4/20 celebrations would intensify by drawing attention to it and hoping that something could be done about it.

    Moran. Or double agent for the stoners. You call it.

  23. 23.

    TriassicSands

    Theft of a highway mile marker is clearly a case of domestic terrorism and should be dealt with by Homeland Security, water-boarding, and life imprisonment in Gitmo. Zero tolerance!

  24. 24.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @max:

    Here in Tracktown USA, they were going to number the local Beltline Highway “OR 69”. Then someone pointed out to them how Indiana has a hell of a time with I-69 signs.

    So they decided that it would be OR 569 instead.

  25. 25.

    bewleys

    Thanks for that link, to huffpo.
    Don’t go there anymore, I would have missed the “Princess Leia” pics.

  26. 26.

    Schlemizel

    funny, posted a comment about the trouble Fucking, Austria had with their city signs being stolen. They finally went with welded signs buried in cement. But FYWP eatted it I guess

  27. 27.

    geg6

    Ugh. Luudes were the worst. Never understood why people liked that shit. Someone slipped one into my beer and my BF’s beer back in the late 70s/early 80s and I was furious when I finally straightened up. That shit sucked.

    Always did and always will prefer the wacky weed. I’m not one that likes being completely out of control. Just looking for some relaxation, same way I use alcohol. Never stronger than beer and wine and drink it in moderation.

  28. 28.

    Villago Delenda Est

    OT, but the stopped clock theory gets another point in its favor from Noisemax:

    Dick Morris: Christie’s in a Trap

    That smell you’re picking up, Dick? It’s not Miss Kim’s feet. It’s Christie’s crusts burning.

  29. 29.

    muddy

    @geg6: In high school in the 70’s we used to laugh over the re-runs of Dragnet because his badge number was 714, and we said it was code for why he was so blasé.

    A guy I knew took 4 ‘luudes one day at school and at lunch he was drinking out of a milk carton and it was just running out of his mouth onto his chest as fast as it went in. He didn’t even notice and everyone laughed at him. I’m with you, it’s a shitty high. You look stupid and you feel stupid.

    Now I sound like that gimlet eyed prick Morning Joe. Maybe he protests so much because everyone thinks his eyes are like that from smoking pot.

  30. 30.

    Baud

    @SFAW:

    It would be awesome if they’d put up a ‘MILE 2.718281828′ marker.

    No, it would be natural.

    And log-ical.

  32. 32.

    scav

    I’m rather impressed at how quickly after legalization that dreaded drug-fueled crime wave was able to self-assemble and take out the critical sign repeatedly. ONE) wouldn’t the assumed perps still be laid out in a glow of celebration and not quite that focused drive for pillage unless it involved foodstuffs and TWO) there’s no way a roads dept would be able to replace them that quickly for repeat thefts.

  35. 35.

    Citizen_X

    I think they also changed the number of Route 666, out in the Arizona/California border region, because its signs kept getting stolen.

    Or, because obnoxious people kept singing Highway to Hell in front of it. One of those two.

  38. 38.

    Citizen_X

    On-topic, I can’t wait till Washington gets its stores going this spring. Then we can try to change the “narrative” from “lol Colorado stoners hurr hurr,” to “Huh. Another state legalizes, and the world is still here.”

    Normalizing (NORMLizing?) it, making it boring, is key.

  39. 39.

    James E. Powell

    @Zam:

    I must admit I would be more inclined to steal a sign that said 419.99 than one that said 420.

    Me too. And I was thinking of the line, ” . . . but for you, 419.99″

  40. 40.

    Baud

    I wonder if some enterprising young civil engineer will measure to see if the new marker is .01 miles closer.

  41. 41.

    Ben Franklin

    Bloomimngbirds…

    Standing in the way, Kilmer and economists say, are variables including state tax policies, the shifting behavior of buyers and sellers, and contradictory drug laws nationwide. In Colorado, where authorities have levied a 15 percent wholesale and 10 percent retail tax on marijuana transactions, the price of legal commercial-grade pot has doubled to $400 an ounce since the start of the year, says Aaron Smith, executive director of the National Cannabis Industry Association. That’s twice the price for medical marijuana at state dispensaries that require a doctor’s prescription. On the black market, high-grade offerings are fetching $156 to $250 an ounce, according to data compiled by Narcotic News.

    With over $5 million in sales the first week seems like a lot, wait until the the Revenuers get wind of the potential. It’s starting at 25%…do I hear 35?

  43. 43.

    Thor Heyerdahl

    The “Ragged Ass Road” sign in Yellowknife NWT was stolen so many times the sign was welded to the post.

    I wonder how many times that the signs have been stolen in Dildo, NL or Climax, SK – who knows they might have wound up in a museum in Blue Ball, PA.

  46. 46.

    Calming influence

    Seriously, I was not surprised when many Juicers (including myself) recognized 714 right away. But like Bobo, we are now responsible adults who have put away our childish ways. (I mean, we have have, right? I’m not missing out on anything, am I?)

  48. 48.

    WaterGirl

    @WereBear: Not everywhere. Certainly not in indiana where my niece got arrested and charged for stealing a street sign with a couple other people in her sorority. She had to jump through a whole bunch of legal hoops in order to get that expunged so she could get into law school. Even AFTER they had expunged it, they hadn’t really expunged it, so she had a lot of explaining to do when she applied to law school.

    @Villago Delenda Est: My sister graduated high school in 1069 and they wouldn’t even put the year on the class rings.

  49. 49.

    SFAW

    @Warren Terra: and others ..

    Thanks.

    Teh Google … how does that work?

    Apparently, I am not aware of all Internet traditions. Which, I suppose, is good news for John McCain.

  51. 51.

    Corner Stone

    @WaterGirl:

    My sister graduated high school in 1069 and they wouldn’t even put the year on the class rings.

    ***backs away slowly…slowwwlllyy***

  53. 53.

    SFAW

    @Baud: @Anoniminous:

    I’m half expecting Tom Levenson to chime in with his employer’s cheer (they haven’t had a real fight song since who-knows-when):

    “e to the u, du/dx
    e to the x, dx
    Cosine! Secant! Tangent! Sine!
    3 point 1 4 1 5 9
    Square root! Integral! u dv!
    Slipstick! Slide rule! M I T!”

    (Disclaimer: some wankers have said that the penultimate line is actually “Integral! Radical! mu dv!” Who knows?)

    ETA: And, no, I don’t want to hear about Godiva riding through Coventry. You nerds.

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