The United States D.E.A. is a menace. They always have been, and they always will be until they are de-funded and shut down. The last thing the D.E.A. wants is to see the marijuana industry flourish, whether it be in the United States or abroad. Recently Reuters published an article discussing how the D.E.A. is taking a hard look at the Canadian marijuana industry to see who from the United States has invested there. Per Reuters:
U.S. investors in Canada’s medical marijuana industry are betting they will not fall under the scrutiny of U.S. law enforcement officers – but it is a risky bet.
With marijuana still illegal on a federal level in the United States, American investors in Canadian medical marijuana can be seen as violating the Controlled Substances Act, according to some U.S experts. And the use of the banking system to transfer the proceeds of such investments could be seen as money laundering.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has already been tracking investments made in state-sanctioned marijuana business in the United States. When asked by Reuters about the DEA’s view of U.S. investments in Canadian marijuana, DEA spokesman Rusty Payne said the agency is “most interested in those types of activities.”
After the Reuters article was published, Canadian marijuana stocks dropped sharply. Whether or not the D.E.A. scrutiny and dropping stock prices are related is hard to tell. When will the D.E.A. go away, forever? What is the harm in investing in the marijuana industry, whether it be in the United States, Canada, or anywhere else?
