Since Marijuana has been legalized in Colorado the police have lost a big financial incentive from their raid operations. Not only have they confiscated the drugs but they made a huge profit off of cash and other kinds of property such as homes and vehicles. This has given the departments a huge financial perks of massive proportions. Up until now there have been fewer marijuana raids and more crackdowns on hard drugs such as heroin, meth, and cocaine. Washington state hasn't earmarked any of the tax revenue coming in from the legal weed market to go to law enforcement yet and Colorado may send some of their new dollars towards the cops. The specifics of forfeiture laws vary from state to state but the police can take anything from large amounts of cash from the defendants to taking their property. There's a long way before the warped incentives of asset forfeiture laws are fixed, cops can go after unlicensed marijuana growers or step up their investigations into still-illicit narcotics such as heroin and cocaine.
"Legalizing pot makes Police Departments Poorer". Lucy Steigerwald. Jan 13 2014.
