Report: Some Cannabis Cash Used to Compel California Corruption

In the two years since California legalized recreational marijuana, a half-a-dozen government corruption prosecutions alleging California cannabis-related official bribery, fraud and other crimes have been reported. The causal dynamics are in dispute. Those who were always opposed to legalization are saying, “I told you so,” while proponents of the legal market blame the clash between state-and-federal law, the patchwork of city laws and a glut of cannabis crop fueling the black-market because the legal market is too difficult to gain entry.

Los Angeles cannabis defense attorneys recognize the difficult state in which many marijuana businesses find themselves. Many are bogged down by too much supply and onerous product testing requirements, leaving them either forced to take a financial loss or turn to the black market. Some try getting their foot in the door to legal sales, but do it trying to buy silence or support from those with power and influence.

In one instance detailed by The Los Angeles Times on the issue, federal investigators launched an investigation after a sheriff from Siskiyou County reported receiving an offer of $1 million from a man allegedly operating several illegal marijuana farms. The man suggested it could go to a foundation the sheriff spear-headed. When the man tried to make his down payment with tens of thousands of dollars stuffed into envelopes, federal authorities swooped in. The man was later indicted on federal bribery charges.

California Cannabis Bribery Attempts Detailed

The sheriff would later say he was surprised at the brazenness of the offer, but with the state’s black market for cannabis estimated to be quadruple the size of the legal market for the drug, with an estimated value of $3.7 billion, some officials say bribery attempts and corruption aren’t surprising. Some attempts are more successful than others. For instance, the mayor in Adelanto faces trial on charges he accepted a bribe for agreeing to fast-track one cannabis business over another.

In Humbolt County, the sheriff’s office arrested one of the county’s building inspectors alleged last year to have accepted more than $100,000 in bribes from cannabis businesses for which he promised to help expedite county permits.

Another state representative’s employee has been found guilty of extortion and bribery charges, after reportedly took cash from an FBI undercover agent in exchange for unwavering support for a pot dispensary located in Compton that city leaders were fighting to close down.