Law Enforcement

Police in Fort Worth, Texas have opted out of enforcing low-level cannabis possession laws due to the legal status of hemp, which is indistinguishable from cannabis without lab testing.

About 260,000 plants were destroyed and 30 tons of evidence confiscated last week during a police raid on a hemp farm accused of growing illicit cannabis on Navajo Nation land.

The FBI joined Navajo Nation Police and over a dozen other law enforcement agencies in a raid on the hemp operation owned by Dineh Benally. The raid is part of a unified investigation into reports of illegal cannabis cultivation, drug trafficking, and labor law violations.

Nevada regulators have extended the expiration dates for cannabis industry employment ID cards by 90 days as the state works through a backlog of applications.

Law enforcement confiscated over 15,000 cannabis plants last week around the San Francisco Bay Area, highlighting ongoing issues with California’s highly taxed cannabis marketplace.

The FBI last week raided the offices and homes of several California officials as part of an investigation into cannabis-related corruption.

A woman is suing a Tennessee State Highway Patrol officer after he charged her with drug-related felonies despite the substance in question being hemp, confirmed by hemp permits from the state Agriculture Department and six certificates of analysis by a private laboratory.

A coordinated law enforcement raid in Washington state last week brought down a large cannabis smuggling operation based out of 27 homes in Skyway, Renton, Kent, Maple Valley, SeaTac, and other Puget Sound communities.

The DEA is seeking a contractor capable of incinerating up to 8,000 pounds of cannabis and other federally prohibited substances per day.

California and federal law enforcement have cooperated to eradicate more than 1.1 million unregulated cannabis plants in the state over the last 13 weeks.

Recently released data from the FBI shows that U.S. police made 565,602 cannabis arrests in 2019 — an 18% decrease from 2018.

Judge Samuel Junkin in Pickens County, Alabama has denied a motion to release disabled Iraq war veteran Sean Worsely from jail for cannabis possession, despite a community supervision agreement for Worsely that included an employment offer and stable, local housing options.

Officials in Rock County, Wisconsin have reduced the fine for cannabis possession to just one dollar; the fines previously ran from $150 to $500 depending on the offense.

A former NYPD officer is suing the department after being forced into early retirement due to his status as a registered medical cannabis patient. The lawsuit alleges extreme instances of workplace harassment, disability discrimination, and retaliation.

King County, Washington is considering shifting its cannabis-derived funds from the Sheriff’s Office to instead pay for community programs and to help individuals vacate cannabis-related convictions.

Eight Canadian cannabis brands sent a joint letter to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police requesting law enforcement action against Weedmaps, who they say is hindering the legal industry by listing unlicensed dispensaries.

The Virginia Senate advanced a measure last week that blocks police from searching vehicles during traffic stops based on cannabis odor alone.

A judge in Laramie County, Wyoming last week threw out drug trafficking charges against hemp growers who were accused by prosecutors of growing cannabis with plans to distribute.

Police data from Albany, New York shows that 97 percent of cannabis arrests and tickets targeted Black people — mostly young men — despite Black people representing just under 30 percent of the city’s population.

Due to a recent ruling, the smell of cannabis alone will no longer be grounds for arrest in Maryland. The ruling does not prevent officers from searching a vehicle based on the smell of cannabis, however.

Federal investigators with the FBI and DEA have partnered with Maine State Police to investigate two companies operating in the cannabis space.

The ACLU has uncovered data showing that Latinx people in Maricopa County, Arizona receive on average harsher punishments for simple cannabis possession than Black or white people.

California officials have started issuing tax warrants against unlicensed cannabis retailers throughout Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties.

After years of encountering garbage and chemicals at unlicensed cannabis cultivation sites, the United States Forest Service has entered a contract with NES Hazmat as part of its cannabis eradication program.