Marijuana Accounting Niche - Not Lookin' Good
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While more and more states are legalizing marijuana, the opponents of this trend are using civil lawsuits and threats of the RICO Act to blunt the growth of this business. Essentially, this novel strategy is designed to use federal racketeering lawsuits to stop all parties associated with a marijuana business from doing business.
The 1970 RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) Act was designed to combat criminal enterprises like the mob. It was loosely designed, provides triple monetary damages but never intended for this usage. In this situation, the federal RICO Act is being used by a Washington DC anti-drug group to enforce the federal drug law and position marijuana business as an organized crime that is illegal under federal law. In this particular case, the anti-pot group bringing the lawsuit went after not just the Colorado pot shop but it also included all businesses associated with this business.
In a nutshell, marijuana opponents are using the RICO Act to stop the entire pot industry by going after all vendors associated with the industry. With all of the niches available to grow your accounting practice, this does not appear to be viable at this time.
