In a first-of-its-kind enforcement case in California, a judge ruled in late July that a licensed cannabis business must pay the state more than half a million dollars in penalties, legal fees and other costs after it lost a civil case.
The lawsuit, brought by state regulators, charged Lowell Farms with conducting “commercial cannabis activity without a license.”
The case marked the first time California regulators brought a civil enforcement suit against a licensed marijuana business.
According to CalCoastNews.com, San Luis Obispo County Superior Court Judge Ginger Garrett ordered Lowell Farms and other defendants associated with the company to pay $500,000 in fines and another $46,413 for attorneys’ fees and the cost of destroying illegal cannabis that was seized by investigators.
The civil suit charged Lowell Farms with processing cannabis without a state permit for a four-month period between December 2018 and March 2019.
