Article: Is the Trulieve Empire Just Perfumed Corruption? | Cannabis Law Report | Where to order Skittles Moonrock online

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While honest activists and small growers spent decades pushing for cannabis legalization as a path to freedom and justice, a cynical corporate machine was forming in the background. Trulieve, today’s billion-dollar colossus, was not built on the quality of its flowers. It was born in smoky offices in Florida, where laws were written not for the people, but tailored for the chosen few. It is a story of how market rules can be cooked up in a single afternoon at a bar.

Getting Rid of Competition Before It Starts

In 2014, medical cannabis rules were born in Florida that have no parallel in the world. For someone to even apply for a license, they had to operate a nursery for 30 consecutive years and own 400,000 plants. These nonsensical numbers were not accidental. They were exactly met by Hackney Nursery, from which Trulieve grew.

FBI recordings provide the proof. J.T. Burnette, the husband of Trulieve’s CEO Kim Rivers, bragged on them about spending an afternoon with a legislator tweaking criteria so it would be impossible for others to succeed. His quote from the recording says it all: F- the rest of them, we will figure out the rest later. The result was the creation of a state cartel where a few chosen families controlled the market while everyone else remained behind closed doors.

Private Jets and Bribes in Las Vegas

J.T. Burnette’s influence reached deep into politics. An FBI investigation revealed a system where political votes were bought like merchandise. Burnette took influential people on a private jet trip to Las Vegas, where luxury hotels and sexual services in clubs were paid for. The goal was to ensure that Tallahassee council members voted exactly as Burnette needed.

Although Trulieve distances itself from these scandals, the facts are relentless. Burnette was sentenced to three years in prison for bribery and fraud. Yet, his construction firm received over $230 million from Trulieve for contracts. It is a textbook example of how shareholder money ends up in the family businesses of people with a questionable past.

Death in the Workplace and Ignoring Safety

While the company’s leadership played political games, lives were at stake in their operations. In January 2022, a 27-year-old employee, Lorna McMurrey, died. She collapsed while packaging cannabis cigarettes. The cause was occupational asthma from inhaling fine plant dust.

The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the federal agency for workplace safety, subsequently found that the company ignored the woman’s previous health problems and failed to provide her with adequate protective equipment. Trulieve eventually paid a fine, but only after long delays and attempts to deny responsibility. It is a sad reflection of a company that poses as an industry leader but views the health of its workers only as a cost item.

The Trump Whisperer and Cannabis Populism

Today, Kim Rivers, the head of Trulieve, is described as the Trump Whisperer. Her company poured over $140 million into the legalization campaign in Florida. She managed to gain access to Donald Trump and convince him to support federal changes in cannabis laws.

The question remains who this change will actually help. Experience with politics around Trump shows that the average person rarely profits from his decisions. More often, it is about deals for a narrow circle of loyal buddies. If Trump is now talking about reform, it is very likely that it will be another legislative fix that will cement the position of large corporates like Trulieve and definitively wipe out small growers who do not have millions for lobbying.

Is This What We Wanted?

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https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/trulieve-empire-just-perfumed-corruption-jakub-horak-olsaf/