Jonathan Elfand built a $25 million-dollar kingdom with Empire Cannabis Club. Then state tax officials raided his dispensaries. And he’s ready for battle.
New York regulators don’t see it that way and have stepped up enforcement efforts in hopes to weed out the unlicensed dispensaries. In June, Governor Hochul signed new legislation that increases civil and tax penalties for unlicensed and illicit sale of cannabis. The new law also provides enforcement power to the Office of Cannabis Management and the Department of Taxation and Finance to levy penalties—up to $20,000 a day for violations—and shutter stores selling cannabis illegally.
Eventually, America’s war on drugs caught up with him. In 1998, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the NYPD busted a sophisticated indoor grow that Elfand ran with his father and brother inside a four-story Williamsburg warehouse—the feds alleged there were 2,000 cannabis plants but the exact scale was never proved in court.
If the court rules in his favor, Elfand will continue to expand his business. If it doesn’t go his way, then he will appeal and put forth an argument that he believes will prevail. “The 14th Amendment is one of the biggest treasures that we have in the Constitution,” says Elfand. Not everyone believes Elfand’s defense is airtight. Paul Armentano, the deputy director of the non-profit organization NORML , dismisses much of Elfand’s legal posturing. “It’s exasperating,” says Armentano. “I've been doing this for 30 years and I've heard them all. Just because a law is a bad law doesn’t make it unconstitutional.”
But there are some local attorneys who agree with Elfand. Paula Collins, a New York lawyer who represents many unlicensed cannabis entrepreneurs but is not involved with the Elfands, says New York “goofed” while writing its law and club memberships can legally operate under the guidelines.
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