Justice Department Memo Says Marijuana Investigations Were Appropriate, But Another Probe Is Ongoing

An office within the Justice Department that investigates misconduct concluded this month that allegations about the attorney general directing improper antitrust investigations into marijuana company mergers due to personal bias were unfounded. But that doesn’t mean officials are completely off the hook, as another probe of the matter is still underway. In a June 11 memo, which was referenced at a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday that included testimony from one of two whistleblowers who made the allegations, the Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) determined that no rules were violated and the Antitrust Division (ATR) did its due diligence in the multiple cannabis investigations. The whistleblowers initially took their complaints to the executive Office of Special Counsel, which referred the case to OPR. When OPR approached the division with the allegation of impropriety, officials contended that because of their lack of experience assessing the industry, which “was rapidly expanding and consolidating,” the antitrust investigations were appropriate despite claims they were influenced by Attorney General William Barr’s animosity toward the marijuana industry. They also argued that, in contrast to the argument that there were “no competitive concerns” at issue, the federal-state marijuana policy conflict “made it impossible” for them to reach that conclusion in a timely manner. The investigations resulted in the production of millions of documents from 10 cannabis companies, including MedMen and Pharmacann. Ultimately, across six of the 10 investigations for which data are available, 5,965,000 documents were produced by the marijuana companies under inquiry. The…

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Source : MJ moment
Link to original : Justice Department Memo Says Marijuana Investigations Were Appropriate, But Another Probe Is Ongoing
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