Approved LA Dispensary Raided

[headiez247]

This is for those of you who think that working in cooperation with a city (whether in Cali OR Colorado or any other state for that matter) makes you untouchable... This was one of FOUR dispensaries in the area that were approved by Los Angeles to operate...

Ref: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/medical-marijuana/

2 West Hollywood medical marijuana dispensaries raided by federal DEA agents

Federal drug enforcement agents Tuesday raided two West Hollywood medical marijuana stores in the first such action in the city since the Obama administration decided two years ago to take a hands-off approach to dispensaries that abide by state laws.

The dispensaries -- Alternative Herbal Health Services and Zen Healing on Santa Monica Boulevard -- are among four that the city has authorized to operate. West Hollywood was one of the first California cities to regulate medical marijuana sales and is often cited as a model.

Sarah Pullen, a Drug Enforcement Administration spokeswoman, confirmed the raids, saying they started about 2:10 p.m. and were conducted with the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. She declined to say what led to the raids or what was seized at the stores.

“The warrants are under seal by the courts, so I can’t get into any details as to anything further,” she said. “It’s part of an ongoing operation.”

Bill Kroger, an attorney who represents the operator of Zen Healing, said he arrived half an hour after federal agents served the warrant. He said he saw about half-a-dozen DEA agents inside the store and a few sheriff’s deputies outside. He said five or six employees were in handcuffs.

“It didn’t seem like something they were in a hurry to wrap up,” he said. “They don’t have to worry about protesters coming anymore.”

More than five hours after the agents arrived at Zen Healing, they were still at work inside the glass-front store. A hand-lettered sign taped to the door said: “Closed permanently.” The store’s ragged-edged neon marijuana leaf was unlit.

Kroger said agents seized marijuana and cash, but he did not know how much. “I’d say they have a good amount of money,” he said. He also said that DEA agents had the store’s operator in custody.

Pullen confirmed that federal agents had one person in custody.

West Hollywood has prided itself on diligent oversight of its dispensaries and the raids came as a shock to activists.

“This is incredibly unsettling that the DEA would strike permitted collectives in a sanctuary city,” said Dege Coutee, who runs the Patient Advocacy Network. “I hope that this is not going to be indicative for what the rest of our summer season will look like.”

The DEA raided five of six dispensaries in West Hollywood in 2007, but has left the city’s stores alone since then.

“It’s a very unpleasant surprise, of course,” said Don Duncan, who runs Los Angeles Patients & Caregivers Group, a West Hollywood dispensary that was not raided, and is the California director for Americans for Safe Access, an advocacy organization.

Duncan said that the DEA has conducted about a dozen raids in California since the Obama administration adopted its new approach. “That’s obviously disappointing, although it is an order of magnitude less than what we saw under the Bush administration,” he said.

Duncan visited both dispensaries while federal agents were still there. “It was remarkably discreet at both locations,” he said. He said he talked to the operators of the dispensaries and said they seemed very surprised that they were targeted.

“My gut instinct is these are one-off raids,” he said. “I don’t believe this is part of a sweep.”

 

[Corpsey]

damn, the boys in black are looking to attack again. montana and now la

now that they are getting involved in the thc pill game.

 

[jack Haze]

Just one more example that makes being in outlaw status (Growing illegally) that much more appealing. Outlaw growers at least know the rules and aren't prone to bait and switch like tactics. I'd never sleep at night knowing laws are subject to change daily...

 

[Captain Ginyu]

Just one more example that makes being in outlaw status (Growing illegally) that much more appealing. Outlaw growers at least know the rules and aren't prone to bait and switch like tactics. I'd never sleep at night knowing laws are subject to change daily...

Damn skimpy!

 

[headiez247]

Just one more example that makes being in outlaw status (Growing illegally) that much more appealing. Outlaw growers at least know the rules and aren't prone to bait and switch like tactics. I'd never sleep at night knowing laws are subject to change daily...

For sure.

 

[FreshGenetics]

 

[dymaxion grow]

I've been to that AHHS dispensary. Worst vibe i've ever gotten from a place. All run by unfriendly thugs from the front door to the counter inside. Great inventory but I got tired of them pulling this weird intimidation routine every time I went.

Anyways, makes me wonder why they were targeted in particular.

 

[Yes4Prop215]

i used to want to open a dispensary, or start a co-op, have a big warehouse. then i read about the guys in hayward who got 20 years in prison not for marijuana cultivation, but criminal conspiracy related to their dispensary business.

you are out in the open, and if the DEA is ever feeling lazy and cant catch a meth dealer, they might hit a dispensary.

exactly why il choose to just grow "legally" under california law but not in the open, and sell my meds on the black market.

honestly nothing we are doing is legal, we are all deluding ourselves into thinking that. i laugh when i see the disclaimers on CL or Btrader..."THIS IS A LEGAL AD IN ACCORDANCE WITH PROP 215"....not really man your just a drug dealer according to the DEA!

 

[rick shaw]

I'd bet Cooley either initiated or approved these.

 

[headiez247]

i used to want to open a dispensary, or start a co-op, have a big warehouse. then i read about the guys in hayward who got 20 years in prison not for marijuana cultivation, but criminal conspiracy related to their dispensary business.

you are out in the open, and if the DEA is ever feeling lazy and cant catch a meth dealer, they might hit a dispensary.

exactly why il choose to just grow "legally" under california law but not in the open, and sell my meds on the black market.

honestly nothing we are doing is legal, we are all deluding ourselves into thinking that. i laugh when i see the disclaimers on CL or Btrader..."THIS IS A LEGAL AD IN ACCORDANCE WITH PROP 215"....not really man your just a drug dealer according to the DEA!

haha you and i are so alike i love it

 

[pearlemae]

VOTE AND KEEP VOTING AND EVENTUALLY THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE WILL PREVAIL.

 

[supermanlives]

no one is safe from the feds. they make their own rules and dont give a fuk

 

[del...]

and here we are trying just to get dispensaries started up here in AZ...not to mention just getting the new med-law to take effect! seems like we're getting jacked around on that (again) and the recent montana and LA news stories aren't gonna help speed things along, i'm afraid...

 

[squarepush3r]

maybe these guys were running illegal operations

 

[Yggdrasil]

If i had to guess i'd say the two places targeted were selling to non med patients or selling other shit, why else would the dea come and fuck with legal/cooperative/city approved dispensaries? Seems pretty shady...

Lol maybe it was another dispensary owner gave some BS tip to get his competition shut down.

 

[vta]

Time for a grown up conversation….
by Mickey Martin

So here we are again. In an environment reminiscent of 2006-2007 we are now discussing the second set of major DEA raids in a couple of days, this one in the medical marijuana sanctuary city of West Hollywood, CA. Talk about hitting us in the heartland of the movement. Yikes!

So my PTSD is flaring up and I spent most of the night up wondering if people were going through my garbage, even though all I do is writing anymore; but those fears and thoughts still live inside of me and what I found out yesterday was that they live very close to the surface of my emotion. I found my self deeply saddened and almost panicked for a moment yesterday as I heard that two collectives were being raided in WeHo. It took me back to the day I received the fateful phone call that my life had been flipped-turned upside down by the Feds (Sept 26, 2007)…..my stomach shrank all over and the pain of the wound hurt again as if it happened yesterday.

Obviously this was not the first raid in the State since mine, but it was the pattern that set me off. It was the “Here we go again” of it all that made me sick to my stomach, sad in my heart and angry in my red Irish face. I remember the sinking feeling of it all. The chaos. The confusion. The fear.

I can recall the look on my wife’s face moments after we realized what was happening. It was that fear that you can only see in a mother’s eyes who fears for her child’s safety. It was that look that asks with no words, “Is this going to be alright?” In this moment the “Fight or Flight?” conversation happens. The moment you realize your life in under siege by armed gunmen who want to drag your ass into a concrete box for a decade for providing medicine to people in need, your world drastically changes. The moment you get a call that armed agents have stormed the castle and are holding your team hostage and you have to figure it the fuck out is a rough fucking day at the office, to say the least. That feeling of helplessness, pain, and loss is unmistakable. Not a day goes by that I do not think about that moment- the moment my world came crashing down to serve the dying politics of a failed policy.

So here we are 3.5 years later and we are seeing more frequent patterns of action in the medical marijuana enforcement arena. We are seeing the guns polished up, the raid gear dusted off, and the same gutless and cowardly para-military forces deployed to raid medical providers. So when the fuck is grow up time? When the fuck can you bullshit cowards come to the table for a grown up conversation about the industry without all of the guns and threats and petty bullshit? I mean if you are right and this whole medical marijuana States’ rights thing is bullshit, let us all sit down; you can do a power point on why it is all bullshit and when you are done- if you are correct- then we will all shut down and go back to the black market for our medicine. But right now we are licensed and respected businesses in the landscape of the the California experience. Grow the fuck up and treat us this way.

If Walgreen’s or CVS were operating outside of the norms of the industry, chances are you would meet them with a Civil Injunction long before you ever kicked the fucking doors in. Why? Because these are well-respected tax-paying businesses who deserve a fair shake before we bring the guns and dogs after them. The same goes for medical marijuana providers. On October 19, 2009 the current administration issued a memo stating it “would not waste resources targeting…those that are in clear and unambiguous compliance with State law.” The Federal Government has ACKNOWLEDGED that there IS a right way to be in compliance. If you feel that is not happening send us a fucking letter and let us know. I am sure we can work it the fuck out without all of this kicking the door in and stealing shit routine. This shit is stupid.

Do us a favor….find some real work to do. The next time they push a bullshit medical marijuana investigation across your cheap Government issue desk do us all a favor, and tell them you would prefer a real assignment. You signed up to be a DEA officer…not a bully.

It has been well over 15 years since we have passed laws allowing for patients to access and use marijuana as a medicine. The time for you to use your brut force to shut down the industry passed about a decade ago. The toothpaste is out of the tube. Let us figure out how to coexist and be adults about this shit for once. I have had enough with the kicking in the door and arresting cannabis patients and provider shit. I, for one, think you are better than that. I think the people who are giving orders to carry out these tyrannical acts should wise the fuck up and learn to work shit out.

We can fight if you want to. It has been very inspiring to watch the movements in Wisconsin, across the Country, and across the Globe demanding for more accountability in the Governing process. It might be time for the mightu Superpower of the United States to take a fucking look at the global movement against oppressive regimes and decide how long they really want to continue this war on their own people. Those are your words, Mr. Drug Czar…not mine. Let us have that grown up conversation for once. Put the fucking assault rifles down and step away from the cannabis…..

 

[mrktwiz]

i used to want to open a dispensary, or start a co-op, have a big warehouse. then i read about the guys in hayward who got 20 years in prison not for marijuana cultivation, but criminal conspiracy related to their dispensary business.

you are out in the open, and if the DEA is ever feeling lazy and cant catch a meth dealer, they might hit a dispensary.

exactly why il choose to just grow "legally" under california law but not in the open, and sell my meds on the black market.

honestly nothing we are doing is legal, we are all deluding ourselves into thinking that. i laugh when i see the disclaimers on CL or Btrader..."THIS IS A LEGAL AD IN ACCORDANCE WITH PROP 215"....not really man your just a drug dealer according to the DEA!

Yes;

Nice post you are SO right, it cracks me up when people are "surprised" when dispensaries or co-ops get raided..HELLO it's STILL a Federal offense...lol. Anyway I agree with you I am prop 215/SB420 compliant BUT I only sell to a small group of patients and the rest never even see's California anymore, "adapt or die" is my new mantra. I also had to chuckle about your last line regarding the CL and Btrader post's I SOOO agree with you!

 

[VIKINGtrich]

NICE VTA! Best shit I have read in forever....

"We can fight if you want to.".....Perfect time to start, and I'm extremely board with my day gig, So let me know when and where, and I'll be there with bells on.

 

[SOTF420]

None of this shit would be going on had Prop 19 passed just saying.

 

[mean mr.mustard]

I'm sure it would still be going on even if people voted in that bullshit.