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Marijuana opponents using racketeering law to fight industry
Associated Press ^ | Jul 13, 2015 4:20 PM EDT | Kristen Wyatt

Posted on 07/13/2015 3:38:03 PM PDT by Olog-hai

A federal law crafted to fight the mob is giving marijuana opponents a new strategy in their battle to stop the expanding industry: racketeering lawsuits.

A Colorado pot shop recently closed after a Washington-based group opposed to legal marijuana sued not just the pot shop but a laundry list of firms doing business with it—from its landlord and accountant to the Iowa bonding company guaranteeing its tax payments. One by one, many of the plaintiffs agreed to stop doing business with Medical Marijuana of the Rockies, until the mountain shop closed its doors and had to sell off its pot at fire-sale prices.

With another lawsuit pending in southern Colorado, the cases represent a new approach to fighting marijuana. If the federal government won’t stop its expansion, pot opponents say, federal racketeering lawsuits could. Marijuana may be legal under state law, but federal drug law still considers any marijuana business organized crime. …

(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Health/Medicine; Society
KEYWORDS: cannabis; dopersrights; federallaw; marijuana; nullification; pot; potheads; racketeering; rico; scofflaws; wod
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1 posted on 07/13/2015 3:38:03 PM PDT by Olog-hai
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To: Olog-hai

Very cool!


2 posted on 07/13/2015 3:46:29 PM PDT by Redbob (Keep your hands off my great-great-grandfather's flag)
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To: dware

Ping!


3 posted on 07/13/2015 4:15:08 PM PDT by KC_Lion (PLEASE SUPPORT FR. Donate Monthly or Join Club 300! G-d bless you all!)
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To: Redbob
Outstanding! It's a fine idea to use RICO lawsuits to undermine state sovereignty. What are your thoughts on the 10th amendment?
4 posted on 07/13/2015 4:18:36 PM PDT by Roland (We have met the enemy and he is us.)
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To: Olog-hai

Somewhere, Claude Wickard is smiling.


5 posted on 07/13/2015 4:18:43 PM PDT by tacticalogic ("Oh, bother!" said Pooh, as he chambered his last round.)
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To: tacticalogic

Here in Nashville recently a kid going to college in Kali got stopped at airport with 20k

For school etc

Airport cops not TSA took it

Freepers swoon

Crazy


6 posted on 07/13/2015 4:21:37 PM PDT by wardaddy (Mark Levin.....I love him...but he is ignorant of Dixie)
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To: wardaddy

Ben Franklin warned us about this.


7 posted on 07/13/2015 4:22:49 PM PDT by tacticalogic ("Oh, bother!" said Pooh, as he chambered his last round.)
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To: Olog-hai

That’s not industry except in the minds of drug fiends. I like that phrase: drug fiends.


8 posted on 07/13/2015 4:33:30 PM PDT by familyop ("The Romans and their Empire were but a bauble in comparison to the Jews." --President John Adams)
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To: Olog-hai

Come to think of it, the phrase was dope fiends. Even better.


9 posted on 07/13/2015 4:42:53 PM PDT by familyop ("The Romans and their Empire were but a bauble in comparison to the Jews." --President John Adams)
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Comment #10 Removed by Moderator

To: Olog-hai
Marijuana opponents using racketeering law to fight industry

Good. The trouble making bastards need to rot in prison for working to screw up people's lives.

11 posted on 07/13/2015 5:13:59 PM PDT by DiogenesLamp ("of parents owing allegiance to no other sovereignty.")
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To: Olog-hai

Winning!

12 posted on 07/13/2015 5:23:54 PM PDT by TigersEye (This is the age of the death of reason and rule of law. Prepare!)
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To: wardaddy

Some people just love the police state.
Personally I just don’t even understand how this country survived before marihuana was banned in the 20th century.
It’s so dangerous that the founders should have banned it in the Constitution!
Sheesh


13 posted on 07/13/2015 5:35:04 PM PDT by Clump (Bestowing dignity on sodomy is like bestowing fragrance on a turd.)
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To: wardaddy

Oh yea not to mention what a near utopian society we have not achieved.
We are just a regulation or two away!


14 posted on 07/13/2015 5:43:49 PM PDT by Clump (Bestowing dignity on sodomy is like bestowing fragrance on a turd.)
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To: KC_Lion; T-Bone Texan; ConservingFreedom; shotgun; clee1; Dominic01; TheStickman; DainBramage; ...

Pot Ping List!

Let me know if you want on or off.

H/T to KC_Lion!


15 posted on 07/13/2015 9:46:59 PM PDT by dware (Yeah, so? What are we going to do about it?)
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To: DiogenesLamp

Uhm, the people selling pot are just trying to make a living, just like the people selling booze.

If a customer screws up their life because of pot (or booze), it’s not the store’s fault; it’s the addict’s fault.

Maybe we should make booze illegal too so it doesn’t screw up people’s lives? Oh yeah, we tried that and it didn’t work either.

Maybe we should let the government tell us what’s good for us, and what’s bad for us so we don’t have to think or act like responsible adults.

Maybe we should go back to what made our country great; life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. If I puff on a doobie, how does that hurt you? Do you even know?

Like I always say, Republicans and Democrats are two sides of the same dirty coin and some of the comments cheering the government’s overreach prove it.

Advocating for a nanny state? Why doesn’t it surprise me?


16 posted on 07/13/2015 11:19:21 PM PDT by AboveTheClouds
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To: AboveTheClouds
Republicans and Democrats are two sides of the same dirty coin and some of the comments cheering the government’s overreach prove it.

Advocating for a nanny state? Why doesn’t it surprise me?

Some people think "conservatism" means government pushing around different people than the liberals want government to push around.

17 posted on 07/14/2015 8:15:43 AM PDT by ConservingFreedom (A government strong enough to impose your standards is strong enough to ban them.)
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To: Olog-hai
Safe Streets Alliance, a Washington-based anti-crime group that brought the lawsuits

Keeping marijuana in the black market makes streets less safe.

18 posted on 07/14/2015 8:21:06 AM PDT by ConservingFreedom (A government strong enough to impose your standards is strong enough to ban them.)
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To: AboveTheClouds
Uhm, the people selling pot are just trying to make a living, just like the people selling booze.

Booze has been with mankind for 10 million years. That horse has left the barn, and does not justify allowing another brain damaging narcotic to destroy people's lives.

If a customer screws up their life because of pot (or booze), it’s not the store’s fault; it’s the addict’s fault.

It is a mind altering drug for which the uninformed have no defense. It directly and chemically interferes with will power, rendering self-will impossible.

Maybe we should let the government tell us what’s good for us, and what’s bad for us so we don’t have to think or act like responsible adults.

No, we shouldn't do that. But we should grant them every necessary power to deal with serious threats to the lives of our populace, such as those constituted by illegal drugs being used for recreation. It is the DUTY of government to deal with dangerous threats, and drugs are a dangerous threat.

Maybe we should go back to what made our country great; life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. If I puff on a doobie, how does that hurt you? Do you even know?

If you lived on some desert island and smoked your doobie, you would be no problem for anyone. The problem arises when you allow the knowledge of that drug use out to others in such a manner as to encourage them to try it.

Your advocacy is the first step toward wrecking other people's lives. Had they no knowledge of it, they would not be tempted to try it, but because people such as yourself insist on doing it, the chances that people will remain unaware of it are nil.

I have personally known over a dozen people who screwed their lives up because of drugs, and they all started with pot. Pot breaks people into the drug usage cycle. It normalizes what is a very dangerous habit and behavior, and it is that normalization that hides the threat to people ignorant of the consequences.

Advocating for a nanny state? Why doesn’t it surprise me?

No. I'm advocating for a functional nation that won't collapse into chaos the way China did 150 years ago when it legalized drugs. Legalized drugs caused the eventual deaths of 100 million people before the damage subsided.

19 posted on 07/14/2015 8:48:41 AM PDT by DiogenesLamp ("of parents owing allegiance to no other sovereignty.")
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To: DiogenesLamp
It directly and chemically interferes with will power, rendering self-will impossible.

For some users. There's no evidence that many of them are prevented or deterred from getting it by its illegality - meanwhile we spend tens of billions of taxpayer dollars punishing the many who can handle it and those who supply them, thereby channeling more tens of billions into criminal hands.

20 posted on 07/14/2015 11:29:49 AM PDT by ConservingFreedom (A government strong enough to impose your standards is strong enough to ban them.)
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