As pot becomes legal, regulators face scrutiny

Two cases show new corruption possibilities

DENVER — Take a black-market business that relies on cash. Move the business out of the shadows by giving it government oversight. Hire new regulators to keep watch on the business, all without any experience regulating a brand-new industry.

The result can be a recipe for government corruption.

Recent cases in Colorado and Washington are the first known instances of current or former pot regulators being accused of having improper dealings with the industry. The two recreational marijuana states are the nation’s oldest, approving legal weed in defiance of federal law in 2012.

In a case that has caught the U.S. Justice Department’s attention, former Colorado marijuana enforcement officer Renee Rayton is accused of helping pot growers raise plants for illegal out-of-state sales.

State investigators say the marijuana warehouse inspector quit her job last year and immediately went to work for the illegal pot ring, taking an $8,000-a-month job.

A June 7 indictment says Rayton told the pot growers she could help them “get legal” through her contacts at the Colorado agency that oversees the marijuana industry.

The indictment says Rayton had “vast knowledge” of marijuana regulations and “must have been aware” that other defendants in the case were growing pot illegally.

She is charged with conspiracy to illegally grow pot. Rayton’s attorney told The Associated Press she is innocent.

In Washington, the state agency that regulates pot recently fired an employee who leased land to a prospective pot grower.

Marijuana licensing specialist Grant Bulski was leasing 25 acres to a marijuana entrepreneur for $2,834 a month, The Spokesman-review reported. That violated Washington rules prohibiting regulators from having a financial stake in the business. Bulski was not charged with a crime.