#californiacannabis – “California’s business tax collector is ramping up enforcement against unlicensed and licensed cannabis companies, which owe the state nearly $200 million in unpaid taxes….
In particular, the CDTFA has launched raids and auctioned off seized properties as part of heightened efforts to collect unpaid taxes and rein in underground operators….
The escalation, according to the department, signals a return to normalcy in state government functions as the economy rebounds from the pandemic-led downturn….
“CDTFA is committed to leveling the playing field for legal businesses by enforcing tax laws against illegal operations,” Adamek wrote.
“Because legal cannabis retailers and distributors are required to hold a permit with CDTFA, we know who they are, where they are, and if they are current on their taxes. Illegal operators can be more challenging since they are underground.””
#californiacannabis – ““This latest round of awards will support the economic justice and well-being of communities across our state that have been disproportionately impacted by the War on Drugs,” Myers said.
The grants to local health departments and non-profit organizations will support initiatives such as job placement, legal services for community reentry and mental health and substance misuse treatment.
Among the grant recipients this year are community-based services like YMCA of San Diego County, United CORE Alliance, Bay Area Legal Aid, San Jose State University Research Foundation and Urban Association of Forestry and Fire Professionals.
The largest awards in this round are going to JobTrain, GRID Alternatives Greater Los Angele, Los Angeles Regional Reentry Partnership, Flintridge Center and Recovery Cafe San Jose, each of which will receive $900,000.”
This makes me sick. Even the consideration of a life sentence is unreasonable for a cannabis offense!
#cannabispolitics – “A Maryland man could spend the rest of his life behind bars following a federal cannabis conviction in a Baltimore court for conspiracy to distribute more than a ton of marijuana. Jonathan Wall was convicted on May 6 after a jury deliberated for only two hours to decide his fate….
Wall was convicted of leading a criminal conspiracy to smuggle marijuana from California, where recreational cannabis is legal under state law, to his home state of Maryland. Under federal sentencing laws, he faces a minimum of ten years to life in prison…..
Federal prosecutors relied on testimony from informants to convict Wall, who was indicted along with ten co-defendants for conspiracy to distribute marijuana. In the national marijuana trial court documents, prosecutors alleged that Wall knew the plan was against the law and that he earned hundreds of thousands of dollars from the operation that ran from 2016 to 2019. The prosecution alleged that Wall oversaw efforts to transport hundreds of pounds of cannabis at a time across the country to Maryland from Humboldt County, CA, where he moved to enter the cannabis industry at the age of 20…..
Wall hoped that the changing political climate would bode well for his case and that the federal cannabis conviction charges against him would be dropped. His attorney, Jason Flores-Williams, unsuccessfully attempted to have the case thrown out “due to disparate and arbitrary enforcement” of the nation’s drug laws.
“A citizen’s ability to engage in this American market depends neither on talent nor [on] work ethic, but on the preferences of the local prosecutor,” he wrote in a motion to dismiss the charges.
“If you’re in LA and own several dispensaries, then you’re a successful businessperson. If you’re in Maryland, then you’re evidently a criminal.””
https://cannabisnow.com/man-faces-life-sentence-after-federal-cannabis-conviction/
Law Office of Dale Schafer 