Is working in such an illegal shop a felony or misdemeanor in California? What are the possible penalties?
I’m asking for a friend whose daughter just got arrested for working in an illegal shop. (Thank God my kids are gainfully employed in legal industries.)
Never mind. I found it. It’s a misdemeanor, penalties up to $1000 and up to 6 months in jail. I think that’s for owners, too, so my guess is employees get off even more easily.
I’ve never heard of these illegal shops. I know there is still plenty of illicit weed being sold all over the place but I never heard of someone selling it out of a shop. That doesn’t seem the best model for selling black-market buds.
ETA: I just asked Uncle Google and he told me many tales of such illegal enterprises.
Not California, but there are dozen of “speakeasy” type marijuana shops in Detroit right now. No signs on the building, just what looks like an empty storefront with lots of cars outside. Since Michigan is dragging it’s feet in licensing legal weed shops the inner city entrepreneurs are taking up the slack. Obviously they are paying their taxes to the local police because no one is getting robbed coming out of these places.
There’s a pretty well known video (spoilered below for two-click compliance) giving very clean & concise advice to those working at unlicensed dispensaries. If you listen carefully, you might notice a few mentions of an NSFW word.
Pot Brothers at Law
STFU Fridays should become a thing!
I guess my friend decided to bail out her DD because “she didn’t know working in an illegal pot shop was illegal.” :rolleyes:
But the illegal pot shops in California are a serious and widespread issue. It’s serious because they can sell products that aren’t subject to state testing, so they can sell weed sprayed with dangerous pesticides And it’s widespread in that there are over 3,000 of them, over three times as many as legal pot shops.
This is silly. There was no word on illegal pesticides on weed for the 100 years its been sold in California. The government legalizes it but strangles the industry with lots of goofy rules that dont match the expectations of the customer base. People can buy the kind of weed they want in the amount they want at a cheaper price than the so-called legal shops. Also, the licensing process is slow and expensive. Who would have thunk it that many if not most Californians who choose to use avoid the legal places.
Was the shop in violation of local ordinances? Back when just medical MJ was legal by California state law, there were a lot of localities that still banned it, and I’m sure that’s still true under the current system of legal recreational MJ.
[Disclaimer: I acknowledge that any and all MJ remains illegal under federal law.]
wow - that was concise!
::thumbs up::
I don’t know, but I suspect it was in violation of state and local ordinances. Skipping the state licensure can indirectly and directly save tens of thousands of dollars. That allows illegal dispensaries to charge less for their products–one reason they’re so popular.
I don’t know what the fine is for an illegal dispensary owner, but I’m guessing it must be fairly low, or there probably wouldn’t be quite so many of them.