Op-ed: How racketeering lawsuits are successfully taking on legal marijuana

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Just before the new year, one of the Colorado RICO lawsuits filed with such fanfare in February of 2015 was quietly and voluntarily dismissed by the plaintiffs. While this might seem like good news for the cannabis industry, it is actually anything but.

The use of the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act in lawsuits against marijuana businesses poses a significant threat not just to those licensed marijuana businesses sued, but to anyone who does business with them, from bankers to accountants, from lawyers to builders.

The suit, brought by a Frisco hotel owner, alleged that the planned opening of a nearby marijuana dispensary had caused the hotel to lose business. It was always a longshot; the possibility that the hotel would be able to trace actual business losses directly to the defendant’s proposed business seemed remote at best. I have argued since the lawsuits were filed that...

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