Corruption: Politicians in League with the Pot Industry

AALM official release:

​Nancy Pelosi touted marijuana's alleged therapeutic properties as reason enough to stuff handouts to the multi-billion dollar marijuana industry into a COVID-19 relief bill. Such poor logic would seem strange until you realize her son Paul Pelosi Jr. is chairman of the board for Freedom Leaf, Inc., The Marijuana Legalization Company.

More and more politicians are discovered to have direct ties to the marijuana industry, have received bribes, or become prominent members of marijuana businesses after their political position. John Boehner who was a former Speaker of the United States House of Representatives has since become a prominent marijuana industry lobbyist. Taking a corporate pot position after retirement from the government appears to be becoming more and more common. Is such a position waiting for Speaker Pelosi as well? 

Such deals and favors aren't only seen in DC but throughout the country.

• The unsealed federal indictment of Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman includes an allegation that these defendants made substantial donations to Nevada state legislative candidates in an unsuccessful attempt to get a license to sell recreational marijuana in Nevada, despite having missed the application deadline.
• FBI officials raided the home of Jermaine Wright, the Mayor Pro Tem and City Councilor of Adelanto, California for soliciting and accepting a $10,000 bribe from an undercover FBI agent to assist in obtaining a license to operate a marijuana business. 
• In Fall River, Massachusetts, four business owners allegedly paid $600,000 in bribes to Mayor Jasiel Correia to gain support for their marijuana license applications.
• In Huntington Park, California, eight medical marijuana dispensary applicants sued the municipality in court, alleging that the mayor, vice mayor, and a City Council member conspired with private companies to award the city’s only three dispensary licenses to predetermined companies, thereby defrauding other applicants of their $5,000 application fees.
• In San Francisco, a licensed retailer sued the city and county alleging that the board of supervisors passed over a company that was applying for a license in favor of a competitor that contributed thousands of dollars to the board member’s political campaigns.
• California politicians who once helped regulate legal marijuana are now working for the industry. 
• California is awash in cannabis cash. Some is being used to bribe public officials
• Democratic gubernatorial candidate J.B. Pritzker’s plan to legalize pot benefits relatives invested in the industry
• Candace Gingrich, who is married to state Rep. Kelly Cassidy — the lead House sponsor of a massive marijuana legalization measure signed into law — joined a Florida-based cannabis company, a clear conflict of interest.

This corruption problem is so widespread that the FBI made a statement requesting help in catching bad actors.