I bet a lot of the "couriers" (a lot of times aka dealers on wheels from the early post-legalization WeedMaps days) still out there have strong regular customer bases they can lean on. I know I used the same guy for a good year and a half before legal prices got a little less crazy, and he's still in business (I drive by his house and see his weedmobile fleet). If you don't serve people you don't know, how are you gonna get got?
Didn't they issue all kinds of warnings and even announce that they were going to arrest the couriers if they kept on doing it? I think delivering weed should be legal, and regulated, but I'm not about to go out there and start doing it knowing that it's not currently legal. What did these couriers and more importantly, their bosses expect was going to happen?
We can enforce the laws (even if the laws should be changed) but the punishment must fit the crime. Considering how we have deprioritized marijuana enforcement in Seattle I don't feel that criminal charges are appropriate. Worse, we're punishing the little guy, contributing to the prison population and war on drugs, and favoring the growing cannabis conglomerates who are already making hand over fist.