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August 1, 2008
Feds Raid & Trash Venice Medical Marijuana Dispensary
At about noon yesterday Drug Enforcement Administration agents showed up at Organica Collective at 13456 Washington Boulveard in Venice and conducted a raid that yielded no arrests, but left a tremendous amount of disarray in their wake.
According to the LA Times, the DEA was there serving a search warrant and with the intent of enforcing the fact that "Marijuana remains a controlled substance, and it is illegal under federal law to possess, dispense or cultivate marijuana in any form," as Los Angeles' DEA office spokewoman Sarah Pullen explained.
One eyewitness saw that "DEA agents searched and cuffed the roughly 25 people inside the building, which also includes four upstairs rooms. Then agents started searching the premises, removing computers, medicine and money, and using a steel cylinder battering ram to get into the upstairs bedrooms."
But no one was arrested, although many were visibly agitated by the events of the four-hour raid. The agents made quite a mess of the popular dispensary, and the Times reports they "left behind trash, counters strewn with open and empty glass jars, piles of receipts thrown on the ground, upturned couch cushions, bits of marijuana on the edges of counters and an ATM with its doors torn open and emptied," and that "in the residents' rooms a safe was cut open, dresser drawers pulled open, and rumpled clothes and knickknacks thrown on the ground. An outdoor vegetable garden had plants uprooted, along with marijuana plants removed by the agents." The dispensary promotes itself as a law-abiding collective working in compliance with Prop 215 and SB 420.
Ironically, as the Times points out, "the federal operation came on the day an appellate court in San Diego ruled that federal law does not preempt the state's law allowing the use of medical marijuana."
Photo by Lenny Montana via Flickr
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So does this mean that pot shops are not allowed?
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And this is why I consistently argue against the states' rights approach to drug legalization.
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No; what it means is the Feds will raid and trash and steal from any pot shop they feel like it and they won't even bother to pretend that their raids are legitimate. This is complete BS -- if they believe laws are being violated, why did they make no arrests? You mean to say they cut open safes, stole from ATMs, uprooted gardens and swiped computers, plants, and merchandise, yet they couldn't find enough evidence to arrest someone for a crime? This is intimidation pure and simple -- they're sending a message to anyone running a pot club (or any landlord renting space to a pot club) that they can do this any time they want. I think it's time for the Governor to intervene because this has gone on for way too long. Seriously, what would the feds do if Arnold made a public statement that this illegal harassment of law-abiding pharmacies won't be tolerated any longer? Sure, they could tell him to go stuff it, but does the Bush Administration really want to have an all out confrontation with a Republican governor over medical marijuana?
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I was bummed when I read this in the LA Times because it seems like the owner was genuinely upset over it (I mean, of course one would be upset if DEA came SWAT style into your business, but the article mentioned something like 'he was red with angry and tears welling up in his eyes'). :(
I hate hate hate drugs but if that is what someone wants to do, and there is a state law saying it's okay..... shit, by all means, go for it.
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The timing on this is very suspicious.
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thats why even if people have prescriptions they should still keep it on the hush hush, and not try and impress everyone at the party.
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DEA is the very definition of an out of control federal agency.
I imagine things will get even more scary when they're told that the drug war is over. (like that'll ever happen)
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they should raid AMGEN and the pharma-suicidicals first. Weed hasn't been shown to be addictive or cause suicide and it's all natural. FUCK THE FEDS
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You will always run the risk of trouble untill the federal laws are overturned.
a while back a DEA Agent was on KROQ a while back talking about this very thing happening. She said that there will be shutdowns on the dispensaries cause it's still illegal in federal Law.
guess they were busy untill now.
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I'm with BingosDingo on this. Timing was far too suspicious to have been completely coincidental. Obviously the DEA felt that they needed to flex their muscles after the SD court's decision.
Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I seem to remember reading a transcript of a Q/A with Obama in which he seemed to indicate that using DEA resources to bust pot dispensaries would not be a priority in his administration (providing, he wins, of course).
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djproben, due to the fact that pot remains very much illegal, and due also to the incontrovertible fact that Federal Law trumps state law, these raids aver actually quite legitimate.
I'm not arguing in favor of them, I happen to think Pot should be legal and the sooner the better. But the fact remains that despite California's law, it is most certainly not legal.
Unless you want to also argue that the numerous states who have voted to outlaw abortion have successfully outlawed Abortion. Or that gay marriages that aren't recognized in all 50 states are therefore equal to straight marriages.
SIDENOTE: I really strongly support equal marriage rights. Just, until gay people can marry someone from another country and said foreign spouse becomes eligible for citizenship, it hasn't happened.
Point is, States Rights is a bad bad bad concept and an even worse strategy for the pursuit of what progressives believe to be universal values. We need to get the federal law changed. Until this, this is going to keep happening and it's going to keep being 100% perfectly legitimate.
And let me just stress I strongly support Abortion rights, gay marriage and legalization of pot.
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Actually a few raids were covered in Doug Benson's Super High Me which was kind of funny and informative at the same time.
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The LA Times covered this story, with a photo of a Blackwater operative with a huge semi-automatic side-arm strapped to his thigh. Curiously, today, the photo disappeared. However, you can see it here: http://digg.com/politics/Photo_of_Blackwater_paramilitary_used_in_California_DEA_raid
Not sure which is the bigger story, that the DEA uses the war-crime-stained Blackwater paramilitary against US citizens, or that the LA Times is trying to bury that information.
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Wow, so since the Sheriff and LAPD have refused to commit resources to helping the DEA conduct their raids the DEA is now using Blackwater?
ITA Ross, states rights is kind of a double edged sword.
I'm sure the DEA will continue it's raids on med mj dispensaries for at least the next six months, but as Royps points out this is likely to change after Obama is elected President.
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http://www.latimes.com/media/photo/2008-07/41360065.jpg
Ah, private security (Blackwater)at the raid
Your tax dollars at work.