Law Enforcement Benefits From Both Cannabis Prohibition and Regulated Cannabis Businesses
June 21, 2020Law Enforcement’s Ill-Gotten Gain: Civil Asset Forfeiture Laws v. Cannabis
June 29, 2020
- Civil forfeiture laws allow local law enforcement to retain possession of
seized assets, creating inherent conflicts of interest.
- Federal prohibition of cannabis makes people prone to forfeiture laws even in
states where it is legally permitted.
- Among states which have restrictions on civil forfeiture, those can be
bypassed via the federal equitable sharing program.
- Using available FY 2019 data, New Frontier Data estimates that $661 million
in federally deposited seized funds were linked to cannabis.
- Among all drug-related instances, cannabis-related seizures represented the
lowest percentage of those for which charges were ultimately filed.
- In one locale, though marijuana was the singular trade for which the largest
amount of cash was seized, just 29% was tied to actual charges.
