Colorado Marijuana Business Owner Denied Bankruptcy Protection
Despite the recent state laws making the growth and consumption of marijuana legal in Colorado, marijuana business owners are quickly finding out that federal law still applies to them, as well.
A marijuana business owner in Denver has found himself between a rock and a hard place, with the rock being over half a million dollars in debt to unsecured creditors and the hard place being federal law.
Frank Anthony Arenas filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in U.S. Bankruptcy Court to liquidate his assets and repay creditors with the proceeds, effectively wiping away all unsecured debt afterward.
The federal Controlled Substances Act, however, makes growing and selling marijuana an illegal act, and federal bankruptcy courts can’t do anything with Arenas’s case without running afoul of the federal law.
The federal law doesn’t only affect growers, but also anyone partially associated with the marijuana business. In 2012, Rent-Rite super Kegs West Ltd., a company that owned a warehouse which was only partially rented to a tenant who grew marijuana, was denied the right to file for bankruptcy because of the same federal law.
Even Chapter 13 bankruptcy, the type of bankruptcy that aligns debts into a manageable payoff plan rather than a liquidation of assets, is barred from marijuana business owners.
If you are a Tennessee resident or business owner in need of help to remove the heavy burden of debt from your shoulders, then bankruptcy is definitely the right plan for you. Whether you’d like to completely wipe away all of your debts, or possibly just arrange them into a manageable repayment plan, our bankruptcy attorneys will guide you to the perfect plan to help you get control of your debt and your life.
Hopefully, you aren’t working in a business considered illegal under federal law. If so, well, maybe bankruptcy is the least of your worries.
