In Marijuana Policy, the Confusing Smoke Signals Continue to Burn
When agencies and cities profit from programs like this, trust is traded out for budget. The Feds might just seize this building from a man that was never convicted of a crime. Fair? You be the judge.
Tony Jalali. On two occasions he rented one of his 12 office spaces to medical marijuana dispensaries, thinking such operations were perfectly legal in California.”But California is really ground zero for the use of forfeiture in states that have decriminalized marijuana,” said Salzman, who added that state law prohibits forfeiture of property unless the owner is convicted of a crime.
Salzman suggested a motive other than cracking down on drug use. He said that under what’s called “equitable sharing,” federal and local agencies are sharing the proceeds from confiscating property.
“If they take Tony’s building,” said Salzman, “the money is split between the Drug Enforcement Administration and the city of Anaheim. That financial incentive has driven a literal explosion in civil forfeiture activity….”
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