A New Leaf : The End of Cannabis Prohibition by Martin Alyson; Rashidian Nushin

A New Leaf : The End of Cannabis Prohibition by Martin Alyson; Rashidian Nushin

Author:Martin, Alyson; Rashidian, Nushin [Martin, Alyson; Rashidian, Nushin]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: medical legislation, medical law, cultural policy
ISBN: 9781595589293
Publisher: Perseus Book Group
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00


After the Montana raids it was unclear whether this federal attack was isolated or the launch of a longer, widespread fight. In retrospect, this was only the beginning of a crackdown that would rattle the industry from coast to coast. By late 2010, there were certainly signs that tension with the federal government was brewing, as far as the big players in this industry were concerned.

One of those players, Steve DeAngelo, is an outspoken and devoted medical cannabis advocate who owns Harborside Health Center, one of the country’s largest dispensaries, in Oakland, California. He also owns another, much smaller dispensary by the same name in San Jose. In late 2010, the Internal Revenue Service audited Harborside to determine whether the dispensaries had adhered to a federal tax code called 280E.51 In general terms, 280E prohibits any business involved with “trafficking in controlled substances” from writing off expenses, including basics like insurance, salaries, and rent. This strange tax code intended for black-market kingpins was written in 1982 when Ronald Reagan reignited the war on drugs; it now creates financial strain for those who run state legal medical cannabis businesses. DeAngelo was not adhering to the tax code because he—and many other dispensary owners in states with medical cannabis laws—did not believe it applied.

“What we may be seeing is that the IRS is collecting data, is trying to understand the industry, so that they can figure out an equitable way of taxing us,” DeAngelo said as he relaxed after a panel at the annual NORML conference in April 2011. “What I fear is happening is that the IRS or persons within the IRS have decided to use the 280E provision as a way to accomplish through the backdoor what the Obama administration has promised not to do through the front door, i.e., close down medical cannabis dispensaries. I don’t think that we know the direction that the IRS is going right now, but certainly, if they choose to enforce the 280E provision bluntly, without sensitivity, it has the potential of closing down the entire legal cannabis industry in this country.” By November 2011, DeAngelo, who kept meticulous books and prided himself on setting the bar in northern California and throughout the nation, was in danger of closing his shops, thanks to $2.5 million in back taxes owed by the Oakland location (in addition to the more than $3 million he already paid in state and local taxes).52

This was only one of many ways to pummel medical cannabis without raids. The feds were purposely targeting the fractures that exist between state and federal law, and the investigations into Williams and DeAngelo represented the launch of a national, coordinated federal crackdown on state-legal dispensaries.

Another early notice that the feds meant business came in February 2011, when then Oakland city attorney John Russo received a response to his inquiry about four industrial-sized cannabis grows the city planned to license. In the letter, northern California’s U.S. attorney Melinda Haag wrote in a heavy-handed tone:

The Department is



Download



Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.