Welcome to Spodek Law Group. Our goal is to give you the reality of federal investigations into cannabis dispensaries - not the sanitized version your state licensing board presents, not the "states' rights" fiction the industry tells itself, but the actual truth about what happens when the federal government decides your operation is worth prosecuting.
The state cannabis license framed on your wall is not what you think it is. Every dispensary owner in America operates under a dangerous illusion: that state legalization created some kind of protection from federal prosecution. It did not. What your license actually represents - from the perspective of federal prosecutors - is a documented confession to ongoing federal drug trafficking. Your meticulous compliance records, your seed-to-sale tracking, your customer databases - these are not evidence of your legitimacy. They are the prosecution's case file, organized and maintained at your own expense.
The Supreme Court settled this question in 2005. In Gonzales v. Raich, the court ruled 6-3 that the federal government can prosecute state-legal cannabis operations under the Commerce Clause. That is not an interpretation. It is binding precedent. The fact that federal prosecutors have chosen not to pursue most state-legal dispensaries does not mean they cannot. It means they exercise discretion about which cases to bring. That discretion can change - and in September 2025, it did.
What Federal Investigators Already Know About Your Dispensary
Heres the thing most dispensary owners dont understand: by the time federal agents show up at your door, the investigation has been running for months. Sometimes a year or more. They dont investigate AFTER the raid. They investigate, build their case, obtain a sealed indictment from a grand jury, and THEN they execute the warrant.
This means everything youve done in the last 6 to 18 months has already been documented. Your bank records - subpoenaed. Your security camera footage - obtained through the camera company, not through you. Employee interviews - conducted without your knowledge, some of your workers already cooperating. The raid isnt the beginning of your problems. Its the culmination of problems you didnt know you had.
Federal grand jury subpoenas often include gag orders. Your accountant may have handed over three years of financial records and legaly cannot tell you. Your bank almost certainly filed Suspicious Activity Reports on your cash deposits - those reports go directly to federal law enforcement. By the time you see a badge, the case against you is largley complete.
The investigation timeline works against you in ways most people dont anticipate. Federal agents interview former employees who left on bad terms. They contact vendors, delivery services, security companies. They pull records from your point-of-sale system provider. They subpoena the company that runs your seed-to-sale software. Your entire operation has been documented by third parties who have no loyalty to you and every incentive to cooperate with federal authorities.
And heres the part that realy terrifies dispensary owners when they finaly understand it: confidential informants. Federal agents recruit people facing there own charges and offer cooperation agreements. That employee who got caught with a personal use quantity at a traffic stop? That vendor who had tax problems? That security guard who needed a deal? Any of them could be wearing a wire. Any of them could be making controlled purchases at your direction. You have no way to know untill its too late.
The Documentation Trap You Built Yourself
Listen. This is were it gets perverse. State regulators require you to maintain extensive compliance documentation. Seed-to-sale tracking systems that record every gram of cannabis from cultivation through sale. Customer databases with medical recommendations and personal information. Financial records showing every transaction. Security footage archived for years.
You maintain these records becuase state law requires it. You probly think there evidence of your legitimate, regulated business. But heres what actualy happens when federal prosecutors get involved: every documented sale becomes a count of distribution of a Schedule I controlled substance. Every employee paycheck becomes evidence of drug trafficking conspiracy. Every recorded transaction feeds into money laundering charges.
As Todd Spodek often explains to clients facing federal cannabis charges, your state compliance officer didnt protect you from federal prosecution - they created the most thorough documentation of your federal crimes that any prosecutor could ask for. The state made you build the case against yourself.
Think about that for a moment. You paid someone to organize evidence for your own prosecution.
The customer database is particuarly devastating. Medical marijuana programs require patients to register, to provide identification, to have there purchases tracked. Youve been collecting names, addresses, purchase histories, and medical information on every person who walked through your doors. When federal prosecutors obtain that database, every one of your customers becomes a potential witness - or a potential co-defendant. The DEA has used patient databases to build cases, to pressure people into cooperating, to demonstrate the scope of distribution operations.
Your security cameras are another gift to prosecutors. Most states require dispensaries to maintain weeks or months of recorded footage. That footage shows every transaction, every employee interaction, every cash handling procedure. It can be used to contradict your statements, to identify delivery schedules, to document what prosecutors will call a "continuing criminal enterprise." You installed those cameras to prevent theft. They became evidence of federal felonies.
Why Your State License Means Nothing to Federal Prosecutors
Charles Lynch operated a medical marijuana dispensary in San Luis Obispo, California. He was fully compliant with California state and local law. The city had approved his operation. He followed every regulation, maintained every record, did everything right according to his state.
He spent one year and one day in federal prison.
That sentence - handed down by Judge George Wu, who found the case merited an exception to the mandatory minimum - demonstrates the fundamental reality every dispensary owner must understand. State compliance is legaly irrelevant to federal prosecutors. The Controlled Substances Act classifies marijuana as Schedule I regardless of what California or Colorado or any other state says. Your license is state paper. Federal law is federal law.
In Seattle, Jing Jing Mo co-owned the Seattle Cannabis Cooperative with two locations. Washington State had legalized recreational marijuana. She followed state rules. She got 42 months in federal prison for conspiracy to distribute marijuana and conspiracy to engage in money laundering.
In Sacramento, Matthew Davies operated 7 dispensaries and 2 indoor grow operations. California had approved medical marijuana. He got 5 years federal prison plus a $100,000 fine. Every dispensary became a seperate count. Every grow operation added charges. The state license that he thought protected him actually documented the scope of his federal crimes.
State compliance does not equal federal protection. These cases prove it. The operators were following state law. Federal prosecutors prosecuted them anyway.
The Rohrabacher Amendments Fatal Loophole
Alot of dispensary owners have heard about the Rohrabacher-Farr Amendment and beleive it provides federal protection. They beleive wrong.
First, the Amendment only applies to medical marijuana programs - not recreational. If your operating a recreational dispensary in Colorado or Michigan or anyware else, the Amendment offers literaly zero protection. It dosent apply to you at all.
Second, even for medical marijuana businesses, the Amendment requires "substantial compliance" with state law. Any deviation from strict state compliance can void the protection entirely. One sale to someone without a valid recommendation. One purchase over the legal limit. One paperwork error. Protection vanishes.
Third - and this is the part nobody talks about - Congress recently added a Drug-Free Zone exception to the Rohrabacher protections. The rider now explicitly allows DOJ to enforce federal drug-free zone laws under 21 U.S.C. 860. These zones include any area within 1,000 feet of a school, university, playground, or public housing.
Stop and think about that. Most commercial zones - were dispensaries are legaly permitted to operate under state law - are within 1,000 feet of at least one of those protected locations. Schools. Playgrounds. Public housing. In urban areas, its almost impossible to find a legal dispensary location thats NOT within a drug-free zone.
The protection you thought you had has been gutted. Green Theory, a licensed dispensary in Washington DC, received a warning letter from U.S. Attorney Edward Martin in April 2025 specificaly citing its proximity to five schools. The message was clear: your DC permit means nothing if your within 1,000 feet of a school.
The 2025 Policy Shift That Changed Everything
The Biden administration issued guidance telling federal prosecutors to be cautious about cannabis cases. Many in the industry exhaled. The guidance wasnt law, but it signaled de-prioritization of cannabis enforcement.
Then five former U.S. Attorneys confirmed something disturbing: there was never an official Biden-era memo protecting dispensaries. Prosecutors always had full discretion. The "protection" was more perception then reality.
And then the Trump DOJ made its position explicit.
In September 2025, the new administration rescinded whatever informal guidance existed. The U.S. Attorney for Wyoming announced he would "rigorously prosecute" marijuana violations - including simple possession on federal lands. The guardrails are gone.
U.S. Attorney Martin has been actively sending warning letters to dispensaries in Washington DC. His letter to Green Theory stated it plainly: "Your dispensary appears to be operating in violation of federal law, and the Department of Justice has the authority to enforce federal law even when such activities may be permitted under state or local law."
Thats not a threat. Thats a statement of legal fact. And its the new reality.
Notice the pattern? The same operation that was tolerated in 2024 is now a potential target. Your business model hasnt changed. Your compliance hasnt changed. But the federal governments approach has completly reversed.
Waiting for rescheduling wont save you either. Even if cannabis moves to Schedule III, your current operation remains illegal. Schedule III substances still require DEA licensing and FDA approval for commercial distribution. You have neither. Rescheduling might help pharmaceutical companies develop cannabis medications. It wont retroactivly legalize your dispensary.
What Happens In The First 72 Hours After They Contact You
Picture this scenario:
6:00 AM. Federal agents arrive with local police support. DEA, FBI, IRS-CI - often a joint task force. They have a warrant. Your employees are detained for questioning. Your bank accounts are frozen immediatly - not just business accounts, personal accounts too. Asset forfeiture proceedings begin.
The raid itself is designed to be overwhelming. Agents want you confused, scared, and willing to talk. They may offer to "work something out" if you cooperate right there on the spot. They may imply that things will go worse if you ask for a lawyer. They are counting on you making mistakes in those first few hours - admissions, consent to additional searches, statements about your operation. Every word you say without counsel becomes evidence.
Within hours, you need a federal criminal defense attorney. But your accounts are frozen. The cash in your dispensary has been seized. Your house may be subject to forfeiture if you bought it with business proceeds. How do you pay for defense?
At Spodek Law Group, weve seen clients in exactly this situation. The government freezes assets strategicaly - it limits your ability to mount an effective defense. Clients who retained counsel before the raid had resources set aside, accounts the government couldnt immediately reach, and a lawyer already familiar with there situation. Clients who waited had to scramble.
Federal drug trafficking charges typically result in detention without bail. Unlike state court, federal prosecutors often argue successfully that drug traffickers are flight risks. You may sit in federal detention for months awaiting trial. The federal detention system is not designed for comfort. Youre separated from your family, your business collapses without you, and the pressure to accept a plea deal increases every day you remain locked up.
The sentencing math is brutal. Federal sentences require serving 85% minimum. No early release for good behavior. A 10-year sentence means 8.5 years served. A 20-year sentence means 17 years behind bars. And the mandatory minimums kick in fast. Less than 50 kilograms or 50 plants carries up to 5 years. 50 to 99 plants or kilograms means up to 20 years. 100 to 999 plants or kilograms carries 5 to 40 years. 1,000 or more plants means 10 years to life.
For a commercial dispensary, crossing the 1,000 plant threshold over the course of normal operations is trivial. That mandatory minimum - 10 years, no parole - applies before any additional charges are added. Money laundering adds more. Tax evasion adds more. Conspiracy extends to everyone involved.
Your employees are also targets. In federal conspiracy cases, everyone involved can be charged. Budtenders. Managers. Delivery drivers. Even passive investors who provided capital. Federal prosecutors use conspiracy statutes to cast wide nets, then use lengthy sentences to pressure lower-level employees into cooperating against you.
The person who flips first gets the best deal. How certain are you of everyone in your operations loyalty when they face a decade in federal prison?
The Cooperation Game Your Employees Are Playing
Federal agents know how to exploit employment dynamics. They interview employees separatly, suggest that others are already cooperating, imply that the first person to talk gets the best treatment. This is not random - its a deliberate strategy refined over decades of drug enforcement.
The pressure they apply is enormous. They tell your employee that you will be going to prison regardless, and the only question is whether that employee goes too. They show them the sentencing guidelines. They explain what 10 years actually looks like. They offer a way out - cooperation.
By the time you learn about an investigation, several of your people may already be working against you. That delivery driver who seemed nervous last month? Maybe he got pulled over with product and the agents offered him a deal. Your assistant manager who suddenly quit? Maybe she got subpoenaed and decided cooperation was safer then loyalty. That former employee who left on bad terms two years ago? Theyve probly already given a statement, and its not going to be favorable.
The sentencing guidelines create enourmous pressure to cooperate. A manager facing 10 years can reduce it to 3 or 4 by providing "substantial assistance" to prosecutors. Thats your business records, your communications, your operational details - all delivered by someone who knows where everything is. Federal prosecutors dont need to turn your top people. They can build compelling cases from budtenders and delivery drivers who saw everything but understood nothing - until agents explained exactly what those observations meant.
Heres the thing nobody wants to talk about: loyalty is expensive. When someone faces a decade in federal prison, loyalty to their employer rarely survives. The person who seemed absolutley committed to your success on Monday will be testifying against you by Friday if thats what it takes to stay out of prison.
This is why early intervention matters so much. Clients who retain counsel before the investigation becomes public have more options. Evidence preservation, witness coordination, strategic positioning - all require time that evaporates the moment charges go public. Your attorney can reach out to employees who havent been contacted yet, explain there rights, ensure theyre not pressured into statements they dont fully understand. Once the government gets to them first, that opportunity is gone.
Fighting Back When You Have Time
The window for effective federal defense is before the raid, not after. If you have any indication that your operation is under federal scrutiny - unusual banking activity, visits from federal agents, employees reporting contact from investigators, a landlord who seems nervous - that is the moment to act.
What Todd Spodek tells clients is direct: "Once they arrive with handcuffs, your options have narrowed dramaticaly. The time to build your defense is when you still have resources, still have access to records, still have ability to shape the narrative."
Early intervention can mean the difference between a negotiated resolution and a decade in federal prison. Proactive engagement with investigators - through counsel, never directly - can sometimes prevent indictment entirely.
The federal system is not designed for fairness. Prosecutors have a 90% conviction rate because they only bring cases they expect to win. Your defense must begin before you become their next selection.
If your dispensary is facing federal scrutiny, or if youve received any indication that federal authorities are interested in your operation, the time to call is now. Not tomorrow. Not after you "figure things out." Now.
The clock that started when federal agents first looked at your business does not stop. Every day without counsel is a day they continue building their case.
Call Spodek Law Group at 212-300-5196. Your state license will not save you. Your compliance records will not save you. What might save you is acting before its too late.
