By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com
Legal marijuana has become a multi-billion-dollar industry that continues to grow by the day as more states allow for the sale of recreational and medical pot.
And everyone knows corruption follows money.
So it’s no surprise the FBI is getting more involved in the industry.
“As an increasing number of states change their marijuana legislation, the FBI is seeing a public corruption threat emerge in the expanding cannabis industry,” FBI spokeswoman Mollie Halpern said on a recent podcast released by the FBI.
“States require licenses to grow and sell the drug, opening the possibility for public officials to become susceptible to bribes in exchange for those licenses.”
Halpern urged listeners to call their local FBI field offices if they suspect public corruption.
FBI scrutiny “actually can be a good thing,” California cannabis attorney Henry Wykowski, a former federal prosecutor, told Marijuana Business Daily.
“I think some people are taking advantage of the industry, and we’re entitled to the same protection other industries receive.”
