Basically this, and bootlegging alcohol will still net plenty of time, but nobody bothers because the local liquor stores are fine. If there is better in the black (or maybe just grey) market then people will go there and some will get pinched.

I think it's just deterrence.

This isn't a guy trying to get by, selling weed in his apartment complex or something. He deliberately set up a large scale illegal business, most likely intending to undercut legitimate businesses that pay their taxes, which could cause someone to go under.

They need to make that -ev. Plus it's not his first offense.

What do people think happens to those who break the law? They get a parade in their honor or something? No, they go to jail.

This is what I assumed as well. Seems insane if it was simply just possessing weed. But imagine being a legitimate distributor who went through a million hoops to get licensed and you're constantly being undercut by guys like this. Surprised people are outraged by that.

There's a Pokernews article linked a couple of posts above.

Authorities seized over 3000 pounds of weed from their distribution center.

No longer a reliable source due to the recent controversy that I think we're all aware of. I won't pollute this thread with it, though. Lord knows it's spreading over the forum like airborne radiation as it is.

As for his sentence, it seems light. Note how he would have been punished in more conservative countries like Singapore. Guess it's lucky we're so lenient. I say it's time for a change. Strength, law, order, justice, and prosperity. Fix our courts, fix the system. Growing large quantities of any crop is suspect, intoxicant or not. What do you need so much food for. Walmart is just down the road, well stocked. The variety is unimaginable.

i have no idea what u r talking about. do u know how hard it is to google news about pokernews?

same, I don't know what this thing that "everyone" knows about is.

My post was regarding people who are outraged that in 2023 that people can see jail time for weed, regardless of quantity, when morally this seems like complete bs for dispensaries/distributors who completed the highly onerous and financially burdensome steps to become licensed, which Sheiky did not.

Running weed is risky. Sexually assaulting little girls is way worse and frowned upon by his potential roommates in prison.

Iirc, he had a smoke shop over on Eastern.

Went there to check it out one time.

Nothing special, his selection of cigars was meager.

OTOH, his SoCal operation, as described, seems pretty major .... if a bit puzzling.

Breaking News, man who is now in 54 looks different from late 30s.

Don’t disagree and not defending Sheiky here, but evidently the incident involved a 17yo girl when he was in his 20’s, so characterizing him as “sexually assaulting little girls” is probably a little unfair to him. Not saying he’s not in the wrong.

maybe he could use this argument to pacify the chomo haters on his cellblock.

Haha maybe. For his crime, he’s not going to the penitentiary anyway, it’ll be some lower level security “Club Fed”, he won’t be gen-pop with rapists & murderers lol.

I am guessing you just discovered the concept of "aging"?

Maybe the "it's just weed" crowd could fire up their search engines and learn why the case was way more than just weed.

shhh, don't tell him, let him enjoy the surprise

I see this a little differently. He was selling weed for many years. Not the same thing as recreational use.

If someone opens up an unlicensed poker room in Vegas, doesn’t pay taxes, and makes millions in profits, should they face a slap on the wrist because poker is legal in Nevada? Just because something is legal doesn’t mean any crime revolving around that legal activity shouldn’t be treated seriously.

I mean fines and seizure of assets should be sufficient… if there’s actual damages to people like his weed caused health issues or something then prison would be reasonable. Leveraging prison to enforce bad regulations is pretty tyrannical in general but home of the free with the highest incarcerations for stupid **** i guess.

Come on guys, you know better than to bring politics into it.

legit lol

Hopefully the regulatory apparatus is operated to provide the greatest liberty to producers that is compatible with appropriate product safety for consumers. I have my doubts about whether or not this is true. Regardless, I don't approve of prison terms for unlicensed marijuana producers.

What is the typical punishment for other violations of business licensing requirements, for example unlicensed street food cart owner-operators? How often are the owners in violation of such legal requirements even investigated, much less arrested, much less prosecuted, much less sentenced to a prison term?

Multi-year prison terms should be reserved for individuals whose criminality presents a continuing danger of physical or financial harm to others or those whose offenses have already damaged others so severely that such harm demands retribution. Unlicensed marijuana producers do not belong in this category unless the weed they were selling was somehow poisoned.

Provided the authorities bother to prosecute an unlicensed business operator, their punishment should ordinarily be limited to actions like probation, closing down the illegal operation, seizing any illegal items or profit, and issuing a fine. Only serial or truly egregious offenders should be incarcerated, and even then the term should be under a year and the incarcerating facility should be of the lowest security.

The above statement relates to unlicensed marijuana producers generally. If the producer in question was also involved in some violent criminality then a prison term may be appropriate. Throwing non-violent drug offenders into prison is how we made a mass incarceration problem for ourselves, a problem which does far more harm to society than illegal weed grows. It wastes enormous public resources (while swelling the sociopathic industrial-prison complex) and severely harms the incarcerated individual and their loved ones, subjecting the prisoner to a miserable prison environment while wasting precious and irreplicable years of their life.

Marijuana is Illegal under United States federal law, Schedule 1 Marijuana, ecstasy, heroin, LSD, and peyote. The laws and penalties are set. I'm sorry You think "it's just weed." Change the law or do the crime do the time.

I am not sure about the sentence. The government has gotten really out of hand with some of this. However, he was selling large amounts of pot obtained through illegal means, even though licensed marajuana was legal in the state. Usually, white collar crime is not punished nearly as severally as street crime.

Interesting a "TV pro" turns out to probably be a shady businessman, who probably had money for major tournaments, and was a decent player. So many of those "TV pros" from when they started turned out to be lucky amateurs, whales, or grinder-level pros who were over egotistical degens.