Feds refusing to return seized New Mexico marijuana, lawsuit says

The Trump administration is refusing to return greater than $1 million of marijuana seized from state-licensed New Mexico hashish corporations at inside Border Patrol checkpoints over the previous yr.

That’s the declare made in a lawsuit just lately refiled within the U.S. District Courtroom for the District of New Mexico.

Initially filed in October, the lawsuit towards the U.S. Division of Homeland Safety and the Customs and Border Safety Company was refiled by eight state-licensed corporations on Feb. 14, courtroom information present.

The eight plaintiffs are:

Mesilla Valley Extracts, a licensed producer in Las Cruces.
Royal Hashish, a licensed vertically built-in firm that does enterprise as Baked Rooster Farm. Baked Rooster operates a large-scale cultivation facility in a former poultry operation in Berino, close to the Texas border.
Tremendous Farm, which does enterprise as Smokey Street Farms and is a vertically built-in licensee in La Mesa.
Influence Farms, a microbusiness licensee in Albuquerque.
Chadcor Holdings NM, which operates as High Crop Hashish and is a vertically built-in licensee in Las Cruces.
Mylars, a licensed producer and distributor in Las Cruces.
Rollin Love, a licensed retailer in Golondrinas.
Desert Peaks Farms, a licensed cultivator in Mesilla Park.

The overall scope of the lawsuit stays the identical: As licensed hashish operators advised MJBizDaily final April, they’ve encountered an uptick in federal authorities seizing marijuana at inside checkpoints alongside main transit corridors within the state.

The Trump administration has but to reply to the modification criticism, and no courtroom hearings are presently scheduled, in line with the docket.

Marijuana corporations need hashish, money returned

Although federal authorities in October returned autos impounded through the seizures, the lawsuit seeks a return of seized hashish and foreign money.

Underneath the Biden administration, the Justice Division filed a movement in January to dismiss the swimsuit, shortly earlier than Donald Trump started his second time period as president.

The crux of the DOJ’s argument to dismiss was that “marijuana is presently a Schedule I managed substance beneath federal legislation” and that the seizures – together with the asset forfeitures – had been legitimate.

“The federal drug legal guidelines expressly extinguish property rights in Schedule I managed substances, and so they additional present that such substances are contraband topic to abstract forfeiture,” the DOJ argued in its Jan. 14 submitting.

“It’s axiomatic that, to the extent federal legislation conflicts with state legislation, federal legislation prevails.”

It’s not but clear how the DOJ may pursue the case beneath Pam Bondi, the brand new U.S. lawyer basic.

It’s additionally unclear how across-the-board cuts at federal businesses overseen by Elon Musk’s Division of Authorities Effectivity (DOGE) may impression the case.

Go well with: Actions intervene with state’s ‘broad autonomy’

The lawsuit, first reported by Inexperienced Market Report, claims violations of the plaintiffs’ due course of rights beneath the Fifth Modification in addition to violations of the Tenth Modification.

Federal authorities are additionally undermining the state’s capacity to manage commerce, the lawsuit provides.

“Defendants’ determination to selectively implement the (Managed Substances Act) at inside checkpoints inside the State New Mexico additionally interferes with New Mexico’s broad autonomy to pursue its legislative aims and its core sovereign proper to manage intrastate commerce,” the lawsuit notes.

“Moreover, Defendants’ selective enforcement interferes with New Mexico’s core sovereign judicial and police processes because it has the potential to consequence within the inflow of untraceable hashish merchandise inside the State.

“It additionally diverts the Defendants’ restricted assets from making certain the border in New Mexico is safe which has the potential to consequence within the inflow of unlawful immigrants and state-illegal substances into the State.”