Rep. Brad Sherman Worried North Korea Could Smuggle Nuke In 'Bale Of Marijuana'

Dank to America!

At least one congressman seems increasingly afraid North Korea could try to send the U.S. some really bomb weed.

A sampling of some North Korean kush.
A sampling of some North Korean kush.
Illustration: HuffPost Photo: Getty Images

As North Korea continues to threaten the West with a nuclear attack, U.S. Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.) suggested the isolationist nation could simply smuggle in a nuke through a “bale of marijuana.”

Sherman raised the issue Wednesday afternoon, when the entire U.S. Senate was called to a White House briefing on North Korea.

Sherman said at the briefing, and again in a tweet, that North Korea “could smuggle nuke into U.S. rather than use ICBM [intercontinental ballistic missiles]. Could smuggle inside a bale of marijuana.”

Sherman has long said that this is a viable strategy for a country trying to get a nuke on U.S. soil.

“Since a nuclear bomb is about the size of a person, it could be smuggled into the United States inside a bale of marijuana,” he said in 2007.

Sherman has also suggested Iran could employ the same strategy.

“Iran wants intercontinental ballistic missiles,” Sherman said in 2015. “That is the symbol of being a great tyranny. But the fact is, you can smuggle a nuclear weapon inside a bale of marijuana. Iran will always have a nuclear delivery system, as long as there are a couple of guys who want 72 virgins apiece.”

Now for an obvious question: Why smuggle something illegal inside something else illegal? It all goes back to 1996, when David Kay of the International Atomic Energy Agency seemed to first suggest the idea to “Frontline.”

“I’ve often said, my preferred method for delivering a nuclear device is, I would hide it in a bale of marijuana, contract it out to the drug lords and move it,” Kay said. “Marijuana is a good shielder actually for radiation. The drug lords have a superb record for delivery. They’re not Fed Ex, but they’re awfully close to it. And contract it out and get it across the border.”

Frank Ciluffo, director of George Washington University’s Homeland Security Policy Institute, also floated the idea in 2014.

“If you want to smuggle in a tactical nuclear weapon, just wrap it in bale of marijuana,” Ciluffo said, according to The Washington Post. “Because we’re not doing all that well in terms of some of our drug enforcement.”

So perhaps Sherman isn’t wrong to worry that Kim Jong Un could employ drug lords to deliver a nuke.

But it seems like there’s a possible solution: To get rid of the drug lords ― and potentially save us all from a nuclear holocaust ― legalize marijuana.

Popular in the Community

Close

What's Hot