U.S. Postal Service Reports Record Number of Pot-Filled Packages Leaving Colorado in 2017

Federal postal inspectors in Colorado seized more packages containing cannabis than ever before in 2017, once again bringing attention to the continued proliferation of black market bud originating from legal weed states.

Discovered in a Freedom of Information Act request filed by Denver’s local ABC affiliate, U.S. Postal Service (USPS) employees in Colorado discovered 934 packages of weed, up over 16% from last year’s statewide total of 805.

“U.S. Postal Inspectors continue to aggressively target individuals who use the postal service to distribute controlled substances,” said Dana Carter, Inspector in Charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Denver Division, in a press release announcing the one-year prison sentence of a Colorado man found guilty of trafficking cannabis by mail. “Our efforts to protect the nation’s mail, and postal customers, from illegal drug shipments are highlighted in cases such as these, where repeat offenders are sent to federal prison.”

According to Denver7, the documents turned over in the Freedom of Information Act request did not specify if packages were seized arriving or departing from the Centennial State, but given Colorado’s flourishing legal cannabis industry in the face of continued prohibition across much of the country, it’s relatively safe to assume that most of those packages were on their way out of state.