Federal lawsuit alleges Santa Ana Mayor took bribes for medical marijuana licenses

[ghostsinthemachine]

Last week, video surfaced of Santa Ana police raiding a medical marijuana dispensary. In the video, officers are seen smashing camera equipment, joking about kicking an amputee woman and appearing to eat the marijuana edibles after the store was cleared of customers.

While medical marijuana is legal in California, Santa Ana distributed a small number of licenses via a lottery system. This week, the owners of Sky High Holistic, the shop Santa Ana police were raiding in the video, filed a federal lawsuit with serious allegations against Mayor Miguel Pulido, claiming the lottery system was rigged:

The lawsuit alleges that prior to the November 2014 vote, a person hired by the city, who wasn’t identified, solicited $25,000 payments from individuals affiliated with existing marijuana collectives in Santa Ana. The individuals were promised successful inclusion in the lottery and assistance finding a location for a dispensary if the money was paid to support Measure BB, the suit contends.

The lawsuit also alleges Pulido and other city officials received limousine services, expensive dinners, money and gifts from individuals seeking control over Santa Ana’s medical marijuana market.


READ MORE: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/06/16/1393796/-Federal-lawsuit-alleges-Santa-Ana-Mayor-took-bribes-for-medical-marijuana-licenses?detail=facebook_sf

[tridim]

1. I'm starting to think most, if not all of these rogue agents and raids are due to corruption.

And typically the corruption exists because these politicians love money more than everything else.

They are just as bad as the mafia.

[jomin41]

2. New Mexico has the worst med-pot system

in the country, I think. This system will never get near to meeting the demand. Therefore, the permits are valuable. Therefore, people have incentive to cheat. And they will. Crummy system from a pot-hostile governor.