A traffic stop’s two-year passage through courts – which started off in 2020 – would, in its closing stages, feature a major California cannabis company CEO supporting the defendant. However, his testimony has not been sufficient to convince the judge to rule in favor of the accused.
Police reports say that when the car – a Honda Accord – was stopped a short distance north of Louisville, Georgia, it so happened that a deputy came up to the driver’s door, and as he approached, he smelled a strong marijuana odor. While searching the vehicle he uncovered close to 4.5 pounds of the substance, in addition to over $15,600 in cash and three handguns. This led to two men and a woman being taken into custody.
One of the men, Jose Valero Jr., found at the time of sentencing that he was being supported by the CEO of Glass House Brands Kyle Kazan. The latter made attempts to clarify to the judge how outrageous Valero being forced to serve from 5 to 10 years according to federal law was. According to Kazan, his own company and others like it are allowed to move 180,000 dry pounds of the same substance each year after the cultivation space undergoes harvesting.
Kazan has served as a police officer for a decade, beginning in Torrance in 1991. He ultimately got into gang enforcement and also drug detection and eradication, before leaving in 1999 to concentrate on real estate investments. In 2010, he enrolled in the speakers bureau under Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, where he teamed up with former federal and local law enforcement members who spoke out against the war on drugs and its impact on society, which they witnessed firsthand. The group later had its name changed to Law Enforcement Action Partnership, but still strives hard to combat drug prohibition. Its membership has remained a central point at public hearings on cannabis and drug policy for the twenty years since its founding in 2002, north of Boston.
In a video posted on YouTube, Kazan makes note that he doesn’t imagine a good many cannabis CEOs having a law enforcement background. Arguably, Kazan has been more vocal about possible reforms than any peers he had while working for law enforcement, who wound up in the cannabis business afterwards.
“This is who I am, your Honor,” Kazan Intended to say to the judge. “Compared to the amount of cannabis I’m moving, what you’re about to sentence this person for, it’s absolute insanity.”
According to Kazan, sometimes getting this simple point across to the judge is sufficient to get a favorable ruling. However, Valero hasn’t been that lucky – the judge sentenced him to seven years for the offense. Kazan attempted to argue that they were looking at minuscule amounts when considering the grand scheme, but says, “It didn’t matter.” Kazan labeled the situation an embarrassment, and appealed to the President to take action.