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Q&A
Cannabis enforcement and Law Department's role
3:11:17
ยท
3 min
Council Member Brewer inquires about the Law Department's role in cannabis enforcement, including new positions, funding, and anticipated challenges. The Corporation Counsel and Chief Assistant for Regulatory Law and Policy provide detailed explanations of their involvement.
- The Law Department has allocated funding for 25 cannabis enforcement positions across multiple divisions.
- Various divisions are involved, including legal counsel, administrative law, regulatory litigation, tort, special federal litigation, and appeals.
- The department has been involved in numerous Article 78 proceedings related to cannabis enforcement.
- Revenue and expenditure information related to enforcement is handled by partner agencies like the sheriff's office and police department.
Gale A. Brewer
3:11:17
Second, cannabis, my favorite topic.
3:11:19
So I think the plan says that you spent 1.4 in fiscal two five and 2.8 baseline in 02/06 for 25 cannabis enforcement positions.
3:11:30
So I just wanna know what the role of the law department is as it relates to the laws and enforcement.
3:11:36
It's a funny it's a a fluid situation, I think, because you have, I take a lot of responsibility and glee from closing with the sheriff a lot of the illegals, and I'm pleased that there are some new legals.
3:11:49
But, there's a lot in there.
3:11:53
What's the not just sort of break down the new positions, some of the funding issues, and what you think will be the future.
3:12:01
How is the anticipated revenue compared to our expenditures?
3:12:04
Like, how much are we spending, and is it, you know, worth it?
Muriel Goode-Trufant
3:12:09
I will, introduce our response and then, yield to my, very learned colleagues for follow-up.
3:12:17
And so The cannabis experts.
3:12:19
Yes.
3:12:20
The cannabis experts.
3:12:21
The the need for staffing is in multiple divisions because there are a variety of ways that we assist in the work.
3:12:37
There's work from our legal counsel division that provides a lot of counseling on detailed policy matters as to how things are rolled out.
3:12:49
Our administrative law and regulatory litigation division assist with practical implementation of those laws, and as well as the various article 70 eights and and other proceedings that are are brought as a result of closures.
3:13:13
We anticipate there will be false arrest claims brought in state and federal court, and so there are lines there for tort and special federal litigation.
3:13:26
There's also a line for appeals because we anticipate a number of appeals to escalate to that point of litigation.
3:13:42
And I will now have Sheryl Neufeld, who is an expert in cannabis, to share more.
Sheryl Neufeld
3:13:51
Well well, thank you, corporation counsel.
3:13:55
Alright, thank you corporation counsel.
3:13:57
I do believe you covered most of it.
3:13:59
I can say the work that I have been involved with sort of at the executive level is coordinating, as corporation counsel said, on the various regulatory policies.
3:14:10
We implemented a number of rules.
3:14:12
The Administrative Law Division has somewhere between 7,100 Article 70 eights that they've done so far.
3:14:20
A number of them have been orders to show cause with very quick return dates and applications for temporary restraining orders.
3:14:27
They have not been successful on all, but have been successful on a majority, as well as our colleagues in the appeals division who has had to go in on very quick appeals on cases where, judges might not have agreed with the city's position.
3:14:42
So Wow.
3:14:43
That's a lot.
3:14:44
But it has been a busy time.
Gale A. Brewer
3:14:46
Do you have some sense of what the revenue will be, going forward?
3:14:50
And then how much are you just spending on enforcement so far, just generally?
Sheryl Neufeld
3:14:55
Are questions better answered by our colleagues at our partner agencies, the sheriff's office, the police department.
3:15:01
We aren't involved in the issuance of the summonses or the collection efforts there too, but I am confident they have that information.
Gale A. Brewer
3:15:08
Okay.