Author: Chuck Frank
There’s a new gold rush today, yet it truly remains a gamble when a person grows medical marijuana or recreational weed. But is it worth losing one’s land, their cash, their car or going to jail? Asset forfeiture is the key word here and it is alive and well in America. The Department of Justice (DOJ) is a federal agency that is on a mission. and it is called POLICING FOR PROFIT. The DOJ just changed the rules again to where this federal agency reinstated the “equitable sharing” program with states and local governments. The policy, once again creates a windfall of profits for these players.
Watch Mike Papantonio’s expose’ on asset seizures
here…
Civil asset forfeiture allows the government to freeze bank accounts, seize property and cash from Americans with no charge, while even the
mere suspicion of wrongdoing will get a person arrested. In most jurisdictions, the seizing agency gets to keep some or even all of the proceeds, creating a clear profit motive for the agencies who are involved in taking property.
“The equitable sharing program also provides an 80% kickback to the seizing local agency, which is a larger share of the proceeds than
many states allow. As one might expect, the more a state restricts the use and abuse of civil asset forfeiture, the more state and local
police tend to rely on the federal program instead. In short, equitable sharing creates a federal incentive for law enforcement to
sidestep state law and chase profits under federal law instead.” (The Cato Institute)
If anyone is involved in a marijuana case you not only become a suspect, you may fall into the arena of probable cause, but also you may not even be charged or convicted, but all of your assets can be seized, and in certain cases, a person may even be denied a court hearing.
The PPJ Gazette 