Satellite images showed greenhouses on Graham’s property in the Emerald Triangle, a region known for cannabis cultivation, and the Humboldt County Planning and Building Department just assumed he was growing marijuana without paying the county its cut. Based on nothing else, the government declared Graham guilty of cultivating cannabis without a permit—a civil offense in a state with legalized marijuana.
Code enforcers obtained no search warrant and made no site visit. They jumped straight to the penalty phase with an abatement order that gave Graham 10 days to tear down the greenhouses and fill in a nearby rainwater-catchment pond.
Graham asked for a hearing on the charges, but the county ignored the request and started assessing $10,000 fines per day until the tab reached $900,000.
To turn up the pressure even more, the county published its untrue charges in the local newspaper, smearing Graham just weeks after he opened his restaurant.
He was shell-shocked, but he had a strong defense: innocence.
Graham did not have cannabis in his greenhouses, which code enforcers would have seen if they had looked inside. Rather, he was growing vegetables for his restaurant, and the pond is for wildfire control. As a captain and former chief of the Whale Gulch Volunteer Fire Company, he uses part of his land for public service.
A judge might have listened, but Graham never made it that far. After waiting more than four years for a hearing, he finally received permission to appear before a private attorney on the county’s payroll—not a real judge. Unfortunately, the appointment came with a threat.
If Graham insisted on his day in court, the county would drop its cannabis allegations but still seek $90,000 in fines for a missing permit for the pond, which the county had refused to issue because of the cannabis allegations. If Graham settled out of court, he could pay a few thousand to end the ordeal.
Rather than risk financial ruin in a rigged system, Graham took the offer. But he did not give up his fight. On Oct. 5, 2022, he joined other Humboldt County landowners in a class-action lawsuit to end the abuse. The public-interest law firm we work for, the Institute for Justice, represents them.
The case highlights a nationwide risk for property owners as the War on Drugs transitions to a new phase, with marijuana now legal in many states and recent White House pardons at the federal level.
Officers confiscate more than drugs when they conduct searches. They’ve seized more than $68.8 billion in cash during the 20-year span from 2000 to 2019. Many jurisdictions allow law enforcement agencies to keep up to 100 percent of the proceeds for themselves.
Why the Hell Isn’t Biden Ending the Federal War on Cannabis?
The perverse incentive invites factory-like efficiency in law enforcement. Police and prosecutors cut corners to maximize profit—often with the help of compliant lawmakers and judges who assist the abuse rather than check it.
As a result, the War on Drugs remains a War on Due Process.
Aggressive officers excel at finding cash, but fail at constitutional law.
They conduct warrantless surveillance, make pretextual traffic stops, bend the definition of “probable cause” to fit any situation, and forfeit assets without arresting or charging anyone with wrongdoing—often without finding narcotics….
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