The issue of marijuana legalization has always been a complicated one. You’ve got people who use marijuana for medical reasons, people who use it for recreational reasons, people who think that it’s a gateway to harder drugs, and people who think that any drug use at all is a sign of a moral failing. Even now that many states are beginning to legalize it, the federal government is making noises about federal prosecutors across the country being allowed to decide how to prioritize resources to prosecute people for marijuana possession, distribution, and cultivation. It’s not just the federal government’s regulations that can clash with state laws – even local jurisdictions can cause trouble, particularly for marijuana growers.
In California, for example, the 2016 Control, Regulate and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana Act allowed legal recreational cannabis sales in the state beginning in January of 2018. Under it, people over age 21 are allowed to possess, cultivate and sell marijuana. The state regulates commercial activities related to recreational use and a tax is collected per ounce. For people who sell marijuana, their businesses have to be licensed by the state as well as the local jurisdiction in which they operate. This is where problems can arise.
In Calaveras County, California, local politicians voted this January to ban commercial marijuana cultivation and order eradication of all crops, just 20 months after granting temporary licenses to growers. One person who was affected by this is a man named Jason Hauer, who helped establish something called the Calaveras Cannabis Legal Defense Fund to fight the decision by the county. Hauer says that he was forced to find a job 124 miles away from home. Another cannabis farm, operated by Crystal Keesey and Andrew Greer, was shut down after the couple had invested $500,000 of their life savings to set up the business.
A lawsuit was filed by the Defense Fund and two other marijuana growers in May, requesting a temporary injunction – a court order that prohibits action by one party until there has been a trial. In this case, it would have allowed their businesses to keep running. The injunction was denied, but they are still appealing that ruling. According to the defense fund, the ban by the Board of Supervisors has closed down over 500 family-owned small businesses.
In August, a separate lawsuit was filed against the Calaveras County Board of Supervisors by a group of former cannabis farmers, demanding the county refund $16.3 million in taxes and fees that were collected from cannabis farms. When cultivation was first legalized, the farms were mandated by local law to register with the county to be eligible for state licensure, and over $4 of those fees were associated with the licensing process.
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