Marijuana Business Magazine - March 2018

How practical would that be? I don’t think that either one of those scenarios is highly likely. Basically, it would be a PR disaster if the Department of Justice brought a criminal case against somebody and then the jury acquitted (the business) or refused to find them guilty – or protested against the fact that the charges were brought in the first place. That could happen in California. With respect to bringing a civil forfeiture action, I don’t think they would do that, because the message loud and clear in those actions was: • No. 1, the judges were not sympathetic to the DOJ for bringing these cases to begin with. • And No. 2, one of the issues that was front and center was whether or not the forfeiture actions are them- selves restricted by the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution, with respect to excessive fines. They want to seize the entire building from the landlord because of the illegal activity. Isn’t that excessive? What about a fine or penalty versus seizing a building? Some type of fine or penalty may be appropriate, but to seize the entire building would not be appropriate. And this came up in the Shambhala forfeiture. That building at the time was worth $3.5 million, I think. And the judge said to me, “Henry, you can’t argue with a straight face that these guys weren’t selling cannabis, can you?” And I said, “No, of course not, that would be ridiculous. My argument here is that it’s excessive to seize the entire $3.5 million building because of the sale of cannabis by a tenant.” And the judge looked at the U.S. attorney and said, “That’s exactly how I see it. You might be entitled to some- thing, but isn’t it excessive to take the whole building?” So we went to mediation, and then the DOJ said they’d accept $150,000 from the landlord, and that resulted in the case being dismissed with prejudice. So they had a terrible victory, because they only got $150,000 from the landlord, and we were allowed to stay open. They don’t want a debacle like that again. ◆ INTRODUCING THE BUD GOBLET ™ Frosted Sativa Indica Hybrid Available February 2018! Now Taking Pre-Orders PATENT PENDING