Link. Are there studies about how this kind of situation is quelled in states where allowed and taxed recreational marijuana sale is readily available? Where you go to the store to buy? Where risk of injury or death is not a part of wanting to recreationaly use mj?
One expects such error does not happen after legalization, but having definitive studies to bolster the argument in favor of legalization would surely help make progress, even among hide-bound drug warriors, with libertarians saying, "Why not?"
It seems the reported situation is more troubling because it did not have to happen, had going to the store to buy been an option to dealing in shady ways with shady, dangerous people. As in sanity says, legalize it. Regulate it. Tax it. Put the thuggish dimension of things into the past. Repurpose related policing toward better use of police resources. Taxation could help fund reform/retraining of officers, while the ones in it for love of having a heavy badge could be easily weeded out, kicked off the force with a record, to where moving to another jurisdiction is forestalled.
It just makes sense.
UPDATE: FOX9 - same story. When you lack buy it at the store safety, things happen. It is a message deserving repetition. Said often enough - The wisdom may sink in.