while remaining in compliance with local and state regulations and laws. What happens, though, when a company is found to be in violation of one of those rules? Many businesses are beginning to find out as authorities ramp up efforts to wrangle illegal, unlicensed, and non-compliant marijuana operations in California. Recently more than 500 people were charged with misdemeanors in Los Angeles for their participation in illegal activity at 105 marijuana businesses in the city.

Those charged could face up to six months in jail and a $1,000 in fines for operating marijuana businesses without a license. The crackdown included not only dispensaries, but also extraction labs, cultivation sites, and delivery services, according to Los Angeles Times. Judges have been hearing cases associated with this series of investigations since May, and arraignments will carry into the end of October. So far, 21 have pleaded no contest or guilty and 11 have been dismissed. Other violations included not following security locations or not following rules regarding the business’s location, such as being too close to a school. With the proper future licensing and guidance, some of these businesses could still have a future, but major infractions like location will mean some will have to practically start over from scratch if they hope to continue in the industry. Many have argued excess regulation, monstrously high taxes, and difficulty acquiring licensing have driven marijuana business owners to operate without being in full compliance. In some areas, after state and local taxes are combined, the amount cannabis product is being taxed is up to 50 percent. Business owners who had licenses back when just medical marijuana was legal in California found themselves having to reapply for licenses once the Medicinal and Adult-Use Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act was passed, consolidating guidelines for both medical and recreational marketplaces. Some struggled to align with the new law, even though they had already had been operating for years. While our skilled L.A. marijuana business lawyers agree there is too much red tape holding local business owners back, we also know that citing burdensome rules is not an affirmative defense in court should you get busted.

As Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer has pointed out, clamping down on unregulated and illegal activity is not just about punishing non-compliant businesses. It’s about creating a fair environment for the 165 businesses operating with licenses in the city. They, too, are facing the same challenges as all of the other businesses, but additionally must compete with operators who are padding out their bottom line by cutting corners. This is why our marijuana business attorneys focus so much of our efforts on helping business owners with licensing, business plans, consulting, and compliance. We have said from the beginning that the best way to ensure the strong and successful longevity of your business is to build compliance into your foundation, and a consultation with our firm is the best first step in building that foundation. We want to help businesses before they find themselves in court.

Our marijuana arrest lawyers also have the experience you need, though, should you not take these steps find yourself in trouble with the law.

The Los Angeles CANNABIS LAW Group represents growers, dispensaries, collectives, patients, defendants, workers and those facing criminal marijuana charges. Call us at 949-375-4734.

Additional Resources:

Over 500 Charged in LA in Connection to Unlicensed Marijuana Businesses, by Nick Lindsey, Sept. 7, 2018, High Times

More Blog Entries:

Unlicensed Marijuana Firms in L.A. Face Wrath of City Police, Prosecutors, June 4, 2018, Cannabis Law Group

One of the arguments people have made against legalization of recreational marijuana is that, for the most part, the drug is already legal here. After all, this was the first state to allow medical marijuana 20 years ago, and patients can ask for – and receive – marijuana for just about any condition. State lawmakers also decriminalized possession of small amounts of the drug five years ago, making possession of anything less than an ounce an infraction similar to getting a parking ticket.

However, a new report released by Drug Policy Alliance (a pro-marijuana advocacy group) revealed that between 2006 and 2015, there have been almost half a million arrests on marijuana charges in California. That’s based on figures from the state Department of Justice. And while misdemeanor arrests did fall substantially after the 2011 decriminalization of the drug, there are still thousands of people being arrested on misdemeanor marijuana charges – and thousands more on felony charges, which hardly dropped at all.

In fact last year alone, there were 9,000 felony arrests in California. Guess which communities burdened the bulk of this ongoing marijuana enforcement? Blacks and Latinos. Even though blacks use and sell marijuana at the same rates as whites, they are four times more likely to be arrested for any marijuana offense and five times more likely to be arrested for a marijuana-related felony.

As for the misdemeanor marijuana arrests in California, most involved infractions like:

• Having possession of marijuana concentrates.
• Giving away marijuana to others.
• Having quantities of cannabis that exceeded one ounce.

When it came to the felonies, most of these involved cultivation, possession or intent to sell the drug outside of the state’s Compassionate Use law framework.

So while many people say legalization in California isn’t necessary, the fact of the matter is, this senseless War on Drugs rages on in our communities. The DPA’s figures don’t indicate what happens to individuals after arrest, but our L.A. marijuana lawyers know that even an arrest on its own can have a serious negative effect on someone’s life. It can range from missing a day of work to the creation of a paper trail that results in a denial of a new job or promotion. Inability to post bail could mean a person ends up spending weeks in jail – which can have devastating financial and family consequences.

The measure on the November ballot would legalize giving away the drug (in small quantities), having concentrates of it in one’s possession and growing up to six plants (at home). Sales would also be legal – and taxed – in a manner that would mirror the Colorado market.

While legalization of marijuana likely would reduce the overall number of people arrested on marijuana charges, it’s not clear whether it would close the racial gap for offenses that would continue to be on the books. In Washington and Colorado, which have both legalized the drug, those disparities continue to persist.

The Los Angeles CANNABIS LAW Group represents growers, dispensaries, collectives, patients and those facing marijuana charges. Call us at 949-375-4734.

Additional Resources:

California arrested nearly half a million people for pot over the past decade, Aug. 18, 2016, By Christopher Ingraham, The Washington Post

More Blog Entries:

Obama Frees Record 214 Federal Drug War Prisoners, More Work Left to Do, Aug. 22, 2016, L.A. Marijuana Arrest Attorney Blog

And yet, as it was recently reported by The Village Voice, the number of marijuana arrests in state in 2013 was the highest of any other in the country. With an average of more than 535 marijuana arrests per 100,000 people, it was more than double the national average.

Then in 2014, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio updated police policy to allow officers to issue a summons rather than initiate an arrest for anyone caught with 25 grams or less. That slashed the number of misdemeanor marijuana arrests virtually overnight by nearly 60 percent between 2014 and 2015.

But now, the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services indicates those statistics have risen once again.

The NYPD marijuana arrests involving low-level possession and sales for the first three months of this year spiked 30 percent. There were 5,311 such arrests from January to March 2016, compared to 3,973 during the same time frame a year ago.

What’s going on?

If an eight-year veteran of the force and plaintiff in a pending class action lawsuit is to be believed, the issue is the department’s heavy reliance on “quota-based policing,” and the fact that the police department is being used to drum up dollars for the city. Bear in mind, the average misdemeanor arrest allows the city to rake in about $2,000.

For a long time, officers could lean on “Stop-and-Frisk” policies (otherwise known as “Terry Stops”) in which police routinely stopped and questioned pedestrians – more often than not, African Americans and Latinos – and initiated a “voluntary” search that could lead to an arrest. But de Blasio promised to scrap the program in 2014 amid widespread criticism.

The class action lawsuit plaintiff alleges every officer on the force is expected to make five arrests monthly. Marijuana offenses, he said, are the “low-hanging fruit.”

Another serious issue is that once again, the majority of defendants in these cases, according to the Police Reform Organizing Project (PROP), are black. The director of PROP alleges the high-profile reforms intended to get rid of racial profiling haven’t meant much to the average officer on the streets.

The executive director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) was quoted as saying the department’s current commissioner Bill Bratton, who has been touting the evils of marijuana in a series of recent public statements. Bratton was quoted as saying that marijuana was the driving force behind the “vast majority” of violent crimes in the city. He put the drug on par with heroin in terms of danger.

But even top-level brass at the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration concede heroin is “clearly” more harmful than cannabis, and in fact, may even be much safer than alcohol in many respects.

Still that kind of attitude – and public statement – powers police, prosecutors and others in the system to continue the marijuana shakedown of low-level offenders.

The Los Angeles CANNABIS LAW Group represents growers, dispensaries, collectives, patients and those facing marijuana charges. Call us at 949-375-4734.

Additional Resources:

If Marijuana is decriminalized in NYC, then why are possession arrests on the rise? June 1, 2016, By Anita Abedian, The Village Voice

More Blog Entries:

Driver Allegedly High on Medical Marijuana Caused Crash Resulting in Trooper’s Death, June 1, 2016, L.A. Marijuana Arrest Lawyer Blog