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The sex scandal investigation of Florida\u2019s far-right Rep. Matt Gaetz interlocks with a controversy concerning favoritism in handing out medical marijuana licenses in the Sunshine State. And one of the key beneficiaries appears to be Trulieve \u2014 now the biggest operator in Florida and one of the leading cannabis companies in the United States.<\/p>\n
Trulieve is currently winning headlines over its effort to acquire Harvest Health &<\/span> Recreation, the largest cannabis operator in Arizona and also a major operator in Florida, in a stock deal valued at $2.1 billion. As Forbes reports, the transaction, if approved by regulators, will create one of largest cannabis companies in the US<\/span>, expanding Trulieve\u2019s footprint to 126 dispensaries and 22 cultivation facilities across 11 states.<\/p>\nBut coverage gushing over a cannabis business success story ignores the origins of Trulieve, which trace back to a nexus of prominent Florida Republicans, including names currently making stomach-churning national headlines. Chief among these are the Beshears brothers \u2014 one of whom is directly implicated in Gaetz\u2019s alleged sex junket to the Bahamas.<\/p>\n
2018: Key Year for Gaetz and Trulieve<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
Trulieve CEO<\/span> Kim Rivers<\/p>\n<\/div>\nA key turning point for Trulieve came in 2018 when it merged\u00a0with a Toronto-based former mining company, Schyan Exploration. With this hefty capital infusion, it unambiguously joined the ranks of Big Bud.<\/p>\n
Interestingly, 2018, Trulieve\u2019s breakthrough year, was also the year of the key event in the Matt Gaetz scandal that has now become a national embarrassment for the Republican Party.<\/p>\n
The young star of Trump\u2019s brave new GOP<\/span> has been one of the biggest loudmouths promoting the pernicious fantasy that the 2020 elections were stolen by Biden. But Trump and the party leaders are now dropping Gaetz like the proverbial hot potato as the FBI<\/span> investigates his suspected sex trafficking\u00a0\u2014 including accusations of paid sex with an underage girl.<\/p>\nAnd this is but the most salacious element of a wider web of public corruption also said to be under federal investigation. Yet Gaetz continues to trumpet Trumpian rhetoric about \u201cdraining the swamp,\u201d taking post-truth irony to truly surreal levels.<\/p>\n
Bawdy in the Bahamas<\/h2>\n In September 2018, Gaetz took a trip to the Bahamas, which has now emerged as the major episode in the investigation.<\/p>\n\nThe origins of Trulieve trace back to a nexus of prominent Florida Republicans tied to disgraced Congressman Matt Gaetz.<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n
With him on the trip was Halsey Beshears, a seven-year Florida state legislator from Jefferson County who stepped down as chief of the state\u2019s Department of Business &<\/span> Professional Regulation as the Gaetz scandal unfolded. Also along for the fling in the Bahamas was Dr. Jason Pirozzolo, an Orlando hand surgeon and cannabis entrepreneur. Pirozollo is the one who is believed to have paid for the travel expenses, accommodations, and female escorts.<\/p>\nAs Politico notes, Gaetz flew commercial, but Beshears was on a private flight. Also part of the entourage were at least five young women, one of whom was under the age of 18 at the time. When they arrived back in Florida on Beshears\u2019 private plane, they were briefly stopped and questioned by US<\/span> Customs officers for looking suspiciously young.<\/p>\nThe Wingman<\/h2>\n Another figure under scrutiny by the feds in connection with the Bahamas trip is Seminole County tax collector Joel Greenberg. Greenberg has been named as the \u201cwingman\u201d who recruited \u201cattractive young women\u201d online for Gaetz and arranged for payments in return for sex. The Tallahassee Democrat reports that some sources also place Greenberg along on the same Bahamas trip, presumably for such unsavory purposes.<\/p>\n
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Matt Gaetz<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
On May 14, Greenberg pleaded guilty to six federal charges, including sex-trafficking of an underage girl, and agreed to cooperate with the Department of Justice investigation.<\/p>\n
Greenberg is also the figure whose failure to cover his tracks led to exposure of the whole affair. As the New York Times reported on April 9, what began as a probe into irregularities in the Seminole County Tax Collector\u2019s office has expanded into the current media debacle for the GOP<\/span>.<\/p>\nDaily Beast cites unnamed sources saying that Greenberg is preparing to name 15 women Gaetz paid for sex with \u2014 including \u201cpaid escort\u201d and Instagram model Megan Zalonka, with whom Gaetz is said to have snorted coke at a Trump fundraiser where he was the featured speaker in Orlando in October 2019. Greenberg allegedly set Zalonka up with a \u201ctaxpayer-funded no-show job.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gaetz denied all this in a Washington Examiner op-ed April 5, in which he accused: \u201cThe swamp is out to drown me.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Bahamas trip is what\u2019s critical \u2014 regardless of whether Gaetz personally got his hands dirty with the money or farmed this out to Greenberg. \u201cTraveling across state lines is what creates a federal hook for a prosecution,\u201d Arlo Devlin-Brown, a former federal prosecutor, told CBS<\/span> News. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter that [Gaetz] personally paid them as long as he knows someone is doing that.\u201d<\/p>\nGaetz &<\/span> Florida\u2019s Cannabis Cartel<\/h2>\nThe interlocking connections between Gaetz, Beshears, and Pirozzolo extend beyond an apparent mutual penchant for lechery. Gaetz and Halsey Beshears served together in the Florida Legislature, and federal records reveal that Pirozzolo made two donations of $1,000 each to Gaetz\u2019s campaign arm, \u201cFriends of Matt Gaetz.\u201d But as the Associated Press notes, they also had another mutual interest: Florida\u2019s $1.2 billion medical marijuana industry.<\/p>\n\nGaetz and other Florida legislators rewrote the medical marijuana bill to limit who could get in on the ground floor of a billion-dollar business.<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n
In addition to all the other sleaze, investigators are said to be looking at Gaetz\u2019s connections to the cannabis biz \u2014 including whether Pirozzolo and others sought to influence state legislation Gaetz sponsored.<\/p>\n
It was Gaetz who ushered through the House version of the 2014 legislation that became Florida\u2019s medical marijuana law. That law, the Compassionate Medical Cannabis Act, initially only permitted low-THC<\/span> varieties (such as the famous Charlotte\u2019s Web). But it still unleashed a \u201cgreen rush,\u201d as investors and entrepreneurs raced to grab a share of the fledgling market.<\/p>\nThat same law, however, strictly limited who could cash in on the rush. As recalled by an exhaustive story in the Orlando Sentinel (also run by the Tampa Bay Times and other Florida papers): \u201cLess than 24 hours before the Florida Legislature passed the state\u2019s first medical marijuana law in May 2014, Matt Gaetz and other members of the state House of Representatives rewrote the bill to limit who would be able to get in on the ground floor of what has since become a billion-dollar business.\u201d<\/p>\n
The revision set rigid vertically integrated standards for businesses, which could apply to become one of five \u201cdispensing organizations.\u201d The chosen few would be responsible for every step of the process from cultivation to processing to distribution to retail sales. Only state-licensed nurseries could apply \u2014 and only those that had been in operation for at least 30 years and had at least 400,000 plants.<\/p>\n
A Bro Deal<\/h2>\n One businessman who made the cut was Thad Beshears \u2013 the brother of Gaetz\u2019s then-fellow state Rep. Halsey Beshears, who of course voted for the Compassionate Medical Cannabis Act, and went along with its last-minute revision. Thad Beshears, a co-owner of Simpson Nurseries, outside Tallahassee, was also a major Republican Party donor, giving $50,000 in one day during the 2016 presidential election to political action committees supporting Donald Trump\u2019s campaign and the Republican National Committee. During the 2020 campaign, Beshears donated more than $200,000 to pro-Trump and Republican committees.<\/p>\n
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Ballard Partners office in DC<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\nHalsey Beshears, a former president of the Florida Nursery, Growers &<\/span> Landscape Association, had also worked for Simpson Nurseries until 2013, according to financial disclosures cited by the Orlando Sentinel.<\/p>\nNamed as critical in Florida\u2019s controlled green rush is Ballard Partners, an international lobbying firm with offices in Tallahassee. It is led by prominent Republican fundraiser Brian Ballard, and until April of this year also employed former Florida state Rep. Chris Dorworth, who Gaetz once named as his political \u201cmentor.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ballard Partners procured investment interests in at least three firms that won cannabis licenses. Two of these were Hackney Nursery of Quincy and May Nursery of Havana \u2014 which later joined with Simpson Nursery to form the company that in 2016 became Trulieve. And Thad Beshears joined Trulieve\u2019s board of directors.<\/p>\n
Today, Trulieve pays Ballard Partners $160,000 a year to serve as its lobbyist in Washington DC<\/span>, according to congressional lobbying records. And Thad Beshears remains on Trulieve\u2019s board.<\/p>\nJason Pirozzolo also appears to have been instrumental in securing a sweet deal for Gaetz\u2019s pals. As the Orlando Sentinel writes, Pirozzolo \u201chelped craft that 2014 legislation and then started several marijuana businesses, including a consulting firm that worked with companies applying for marijuana licenses and a professional association that sells sponsorships to marijuana vendors.\u201d That\u2019s the American Medical \u00a0Marijuana Physicians Association, which names Pirozzolo as co-founder and chairman of the board.<\/p>\n
A \u2018monopoly for a few entities\u2019<\/h2>\n The Florida medical marijuana program has been expanded over the past years, largely as a result of Amendment 2, the 2016 voter-approved initiative. THC<\/span> products are now allowed, and there are currently 22 licenses for Medical Marijuana Treatment Centers, as they are today called.<\/p>\n\n\u201cFlorida\u2019s medical marijuana industry will remain closed-off, restricting freedom of opportunity, weakening the free market, and leading to ever-higher prices for patients.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n
But Amendment 2\u2019s enabling legislation barred actual smokable cannabis flower, keeping in place a restriction written into the 2014 legislation. This was challenged in the courts by medical cannabis users, including Lou Gehrig\u2019s disease sufferer Cathy Jordan. They won in a state appeals court in 2018. The question was headed to the Florida Supreme Court when the state Legislature and new Gov. Ron DeSantis blinked in March 2019, passing a bill to allow smoking of herbaceous flower.<\/p>\n
And Amendment 2\u2019s enabling legislation also kept in place the \u201cvertical\u201d model that Gaetz helped craft in 2014, favoring big, well-connected operators. This has especially generated protest from African American farmers hoping to get a piece of Florida\u2019s cannabis pie.<\/p>\n
On May 27 of this year, the Florida Supreme Court upheld that vertical model, rejecting arguments that the regulations violate the intent of the voters in Amendment 2.<\/p>\n
Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried denounced the ruling, writing in a statement: \u201cFlorida\u2019s medical marijuana industry will remain closed-off, restricting freedom of opportunity, weakening the free market, and leading to ever-higher prices for patients.\u201d<\/p>\n
The ruling came in response to a challenge launched by Tampa-based Florigrown LLC<\/span>, which prevailed in the lower courts. During arguments before the Supreme Court last October, Florigrown attorney Katherine Giddings portrayed the 22 licensed operators as unfairly privileged. \u201cThis is definitely a closed class because no one can ever receive the same privileges that these have had,\u201d she told the court. \u201cThis is everything but a free market. It has created a monopoly for a few entities. That is why the licensing scheme is inappropriate and arbitrary.\u201d<\/p>\nTurpitude in Tallahassee<\/h2>\n Parallel to the Gaetz sleazefest is another scandal under federal investigation \u2014 and prosecution \u2014 in Tallahassee. Trulieve CEO<\/span> Kim Rivers is married to real estate developer John \u201cJT<\/span>\u201d Burnette, who faces federal racketeering charges, accused of bribing Tallahassee city commissioner Scott Maddox to kill a downtown hotel project that would have been competition for one his own developments. Tallahassee Downtown Improvement Authority director Paige Carter-Smith is also named as a co-conspirator in the case.<\/p>\nMaddox and Carter-Smith pleaded guilty to fraud charges in August 2019, and currently await sentencing. They face up to 45 years in prison. The case against Burnette has been pending for two years, repeatedly postponed due to the pandemic.<\/p>\n
In December 2019, investor analyst firm Grizzly Research\u00a0issued a scathing\u00a0report on the affair, alleging that the relationship between Rivers and Burnette is more than personal: \u201cOur research indicates that Burnette is Trulieve\u2019s key construction partner.\u201d The report stated: \u201cCEO<\/span> Kim Rivers and her husband JT<\/span> Burnette are at the very center of a political crime ring the FBI<\/span> has subpoenaed, and we have shown the multiple previously unknown connections between Trulieve and Burnette. We expect serious consequences for CEO<\/span> Kim Rivers and Trulieve.\u201d<\/p>\nIn a press release, Rivers denounced the Grizzly report as a smear-job intended to benefit short-sellers who bet against the price of Trulieve stock: \u201cWe ask that our investors be aware that the Report reflects the opinions of an acknowledged short seller, whose sole interest is in profiting from a decline in the price of the Company\u2019s shares. I have full confidence in our management team and their abilities to continue to serve our customers without being distracted by these baseless allegations. Trulieve reserves all of its rights to take appropriate legal action against those responsible for the Report.\u201d<\/p>\n
And indeed, Trulieve proceeded to sue the analyst firm for libel. By then, Trulieve shareholders had already launched their own class-action suit against the company.<\/p>\n
Cannabiz Tycoons Underwrite the Right<\/h2>\n If a time-traveler from the Woodstock generation were to land in contemporary America, it would likely come as a shock how many captains of the legal cannabis industry are supporters of a Republican Party that is now lurching deeper into reaction than even Nixon dared to dream of on his worst day.<\/p>\n\nLegalization was supposed to take cannabis out of the hands of criminal networks, but the new model often looks like crony capitalism.<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n
Recall the headlines of 2019, when four Rudolph Giuliani associates were busted on suspicion of influence-peddling related to the cannabis industry in California and Nevada \u2014 and two of them were directly linked to Giuliani\u2019s Ukraine intrigues. Charges are still pending against the quartet.<\/p>\n
An investigation last year by Cannabis Wire found that more than a dozen cannabis executives and investors focused their 2020 election funding on political action committees backing Republicans.<\/p>\n
Among these was Trulieve CEO<\/span> Kim Rivers, who gave $2,800 to the Tillis Daines Majority Committee \u2014 backing Republicans Steve Daines in Montana and Thom Tillis in North Carolina in their successful bids to hold on to their Senate seats.<\/p>\nSingle-issue politics may be a partial explanation here. Cannabis Wire writes: \u201cNeither Senator Tillis nor Senator Daines has expressed support for cannabis legalization. However, in the last couple of years \u2026 Senator Tillis co-sponsored a medical cannabis research bill, and Senator Daines introduced an amendment to expand medical cannabis access for veterans.\u201d<\/p>\n
Both Tillis and Daines voted against impeaching Trump after the January 6th Capitol insurrection.<\/p>\n
Jason Vedadi, the former executive chair of Harvest Health &<\/span> Recreation (Trulieve\u2019s acquisition target), last year gave $1,000 to the Tillis Daines Majority Committee.<\/p>\nThis is a far cry from the image Trulieve seeks to promote of itself. In a November 2020 press release, Trulieve boasted of its $40,000 donation to the Last Prisoner Project, a group seeking clemency for cannabis prisoners. The donation was part of the Last Prisoner Project\u2019s \u201cRoll it Up for Justice\u201d campaign, which encourages cannabis businesses to support its clemency efforts. The press release boasted of \u201cTrulieve\u2019s ongoing efforts to support initiatives aimed at bringing restorative justice to the lives of those unfairly impacted by past cannabis convictions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Such efforts are to be applauded, but for those who view cannabis legalization in the context of a broader struggle for social justice, there is an unsettling dissonance here. Legalization was supposed to take cannabis out of the hands of criminal networks, but the new model often looks like crony capitalism.<\/p>\n
Bill Weinberg, a Project CBD<\/span> contributing writer, is a 30-year veteran journalist in the fields of drug policy, ecology and indigenous peoples. He is a former news editor at High Times magazine, and he produces the websites CounterVortex.org and Global Ganja Report.<\/em><\/p>\nCopyright, Project CBD<\/span>. May not be reprinted without permission.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\nSource link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The sex scandal investigation of Florida\u2019s far-right Rep. Matt Gaetz interlocks with a controversy concerning favoritism in handing out medical marijuana licenses in the Sunshine […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1055,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ultimatehealthreport.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1054"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ultimatehealthreport.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ultimatehealthreport.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ultimatehealthreport.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ultimatehealthreport.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1054"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ultimatehealthreport.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1054\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ultimatehealthreport.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1055"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ultimatehealthreport.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ultimatehealthreport.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ultimatehealthreport.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}