Brown proposes funding for investigators to crack down on California's illicit marijuana

[Swordsmyth]

Gov. Jerry Brown proposed Friday to create five teams in the state attorney general’s office to investigate California’s black market for marijuana after firms that received state licenses complained they are being undercut by the illicit growers and sellers.

Brown allocated $14 million to “target illegal cannabis activity with an emphasis on complex, large-scale financial and tax evasion investigations,” the governor’s office said in a statement.

The teams also will focus on “reducing environmental and other crimes associated with the illegal cannabis market.”


Four investigative teams will be located in Los Angeles, Sacramento, Fresno and San Diego. A fifth team, focusing on interdiction, will be based in Sacramento.



More at: http://www.latimes.com/politics/essential/la-pol-ca-essential-politics-may-2018-brown-funds-investigation-teams-to-crack-1526066209-htmlstory.html

[RonZeplin]

Authoritarian goons, separated at birth.

https://c.files.bbci.co.uk/11578/production/_100323017_sessionsbrown-index.jpg

Jerry Brown, Jeff Sessions

[Pauls' Revere]

Can't have the state lose tax revenue can we?

[Dr.3D]

Can't have the state lose tax revenue can we?
They might be better, saving the $14 million and calling it even.

[Pauls' Revere]

They might be better, saving the $14 million and calling it even.

No, this way the State eliminates the competition and drives more buyers to the legit market where you pay taxes.

[Dr.3D]

No, this way the State eliminates the competition and drives more buyers to the legit market where you pay taxes.
And pay cops about the same money they would make in taxes just so they can be violent against folks and violate the privacy of innocent others.

It's just an excuse to continue the violence and spy on folks.

[Pauls' Revere]

And pay cops about the same money they would make in taxes just so they can be violent against folks and violate the privacy of innocent others.

It's just an excuse to continue the violence and spy on folks.

Yep, and don't forget. "It's for your safety".

[dannno]

https://mjbizdaily.com/feds-team-with-california-officials-to-combat-illegal-marijuana-grows/




Feds team with California officials to combat illegal cannabis grows
Published May 31, 2018



One of California’s U.S. attorneys is joining forces with the state attorney general in a renewed effort to crack down on illegal cannabis growers while allowing licensed marijuana companies to continue doing business as usual.

McGregor Scott, the U.S. attorney for the eastern district of California, announced this week that his office will be bringing $2.5 million in federal funds to the state fight against unlicensed MJ cultivators, which he said are still the priority and not licensed companies working within California’s newly regulated cannabis market.

“The reality of the situation is there is so much black-market marijuana in California that we could use all of our resources going after just the black market and never get there,” Scott said.“For right now, our priorities are to focus on what have been historically our federal law enforcement priorities: interstate trafficking, organized crime and the federal public lands.”

The news is the latest development in an ongoing atmosphere of uncertainty for legal cannabis companies that are struggling to compete with businesses that continue to sell marijuana without paying the taxes and fees incurred by law-abiding firms.

It also emphasizes that, at least for now, federal authorities will continue to let states take the lead in overseeing their own marijuana markets, despite the plant’s federal status as a Schedule 1 controlled substance.

– Associated Press and Marijuana Business Daily




https://mjbizdaily.com/142-people-charged-los-angeles-crackdown-illegal-marijuana-businesses/




142 people charged in Los Angeles crackdown on illegal cannabis businesses

Published May 31, 2018

Prosecutors brought the first criminal charges against 142 people as they aim to tamp down the illegal marijuana market in Los Angeles after the state legalized recreational use in January.

The charges involve employees of 32 commercial cannabis companies and a business that delivers marijuana, City Attorney Mike Feuer said.

Recreational cannabis businesses must be licensed by both the city and state. So far, only 147 city licenses have been issued (https://mjbizdaily.com/escape-from-los-angeles-marijuana-businesses-leave-as-city-struggles-to-roll-out-legal-market/) to sell recreational marijuana in Los Angeles.Since the beginning of the year, officers targeting illegal marijuana businesses have served 54 search warrants and arrested 160 people, which includes the 142 people charged by the city attorney, said Lt. Stacy Spell of the LAPD’s Gang and Narcotics Division.

Investigators have prioritized going after shops that cause crime and generate complaints from the community, he said.

“We’ve tried to be very responsible with taxpayer money, understanding that we have limited resources and are not able to necessarily address all of the locations,” Spell said.

In addition to the misdemeanor criminal charges, the city attorney’s office will send cease-and-desist letters to other illegal cannabis businesses identified by prosecutors, Feuer said. He declined to say how many letters would be sent.

Earlier this year, state regulators sent similar letters to roughly 1,000 marijuana businesses (https://mjbizdaily.com/chart-breakdown-california-marijuana-companies-got-cease-desist-letters/) they said were operating illegally statewide.
– Associated Press




Comment:


The State got too greedy and tried to rake in piles of money, not caring what the public wants or needs. For an industry that has not had to share what it takes in to go to 50% or more in taxes is absurd. If the new laws weren’t such a convoluted mess and so expensive, people may have gone with them, but you’d have to be a rocket scientist to figure out all the craziness. It only works for Big Business and is designed to take out the small growers. It will also lead to a loss of all the great cannabis strains out there as big growers focus on only a few hardy varieties; all the potentially good medicine will eventually be lost.

[dannno]

The thing is, almost all of these "illegal" "black market" "marijuana businesses" were and are still serving MEDICAL PATIENTS, but they don't have the permits that are now required which were not required before legalization.

[dannno]

Authoritarian goons, separated at birth.

https://c.files.bbci.co.uk/11578/production/_100323017_sessionsbrown-index.jpg

Jerry Brown, Jeff Sessions


Feds team with California officials to combat illegal cannabis grows


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoxWS36J90M