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E Madison pot dispensary again the target of a DEA raid

A hearse celebrating 'the death of prohibition' was part of this year's Cannabis Freedom March on Capitol Hill

A hearse celebrating ‘the death of prohibition’ was part of this year’s Cannabis Freedom March on Capitol Hill

Federal agents have again raided a marijuana dispensary at E Madison and 23rd Ave.

Seattle Cross, located at 2315 E John, issued a statement to customers Thursday, a day after agents served warrants and raided operations around the Puget Sound region:Screen Shot 2013-07-25 at 11.02.03 AM

The same dispensary was raided by the Drug Enforcement Agency in fall of 2011. No charges were filed following the 2011 raid.

Wednesday’s raid was part of DEA operations in three counties against the same set of dispensaries also raided in 2011. In the previous raids, the Department of Justice claimed the dispensaries failed “to abide by state medical marijuana guidelines,” “were distributing large amounts of drugs,” and “laundering large amounts of money.”

The DEA issued only the following short statement following Wednesday’s raids.  “Several search warrants were executed today involving marijuana storefronts in King, Thurston and Pierce Counties.”

The Seattle Cross location is one of a small handful of dispensary-type operations making their homes on the Hill including a longtime provider on 15th Ave E and a storefront on Broadway. These other marijuana providers were apparently not part of the most recent wave of DEA anti-pot activity in the region.

The raids follow the conviction of the owner of a Seattle marijuana cooperative earlier this year on federal drug charges.

With the legalization of recreational pot in Washington, Seattle is working on solutions for integrating the newly legal behavior into day to day life. Making pot smoking in public a ticketable offense could be one change. Sorting out pot rules — and rights — for renters will be another. City Attorney Peter Holmes will meet with the City Council Friday afternoon to update members of the Housing, Human Services, Health and Culture Committee on “City Policies on Public Consumption of Marijuana.”

Meanwhile, CHS is aware of thee separate marijuana-related businesses currently seeking pot-friendly real estate on Capitol Hill.

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Dan
Dan
10 years ago

This is soooo confusing, with State Politicians Legalizing Recreational MMJ, what’s going to happen to the State Run Dispensaries? Will they get raided too?

jc
jc
10 years ago
Reply to  Dan

The stores opened under I502 will be private, not state run. The charge here is that the dispensaries failed to comply with state law. If that’s the case, there shouldn’t be much cause for concern. The DEA isn’t overriding state law.

anon
anon
10 years ago

Problem is, it should NOT be the DEA conducting the raids. If there is a state law violation the local authorities should get involved. With no arrests and property confiscated it just looks like more Obama-authorized thieving from the ass clowns at the DEA. Obama the hypocrite slime ball and his gang of thieves. Welcome to the Nazi Prison States of Amerika!

jc
jc
10 years ago
Reply to  anon

Spoken like a libertarian, anon. They’re violating both state and federal laws. Why shouldn’t DEA be involved? Besides, it’s “low priority” for Seattle police. ;)

that guy
that guy
10 years ago

I am not amazed or concerned about the DEA raid. However, I am appalled by the length of that run on sentence posted by the professional admin at Seattle Cross. I do believe in many situations that conjunctions and other punctuation may be eliminated, but this seems peculiarly felonious.

sarah
sarah
10 years ago

Where is the place on 15th Avenue East?

Alice Eastwood
Alice Eastwood
10 years ago
Reply to  sarah
calhoun
10 years ago

Apparently the DEA has evidence that these places were selling to non-patients….which is no surprise, probably lots of these fly-by-night “dispensaries” do that….and also that they were trafficking in large amount of drug(s). Therefore, they have every right to intervene.

It will be interesting to see what happens to the myriad of “medical marijuana” places once the retail stores open. My guess is that they will lose a lot of business and that many of them will close.

Pod
Pod
10 years ago
Reply to  calhoun

My guess is that many of them will transition from medical marijuana to full-retail, rather than give up and close.

What I wonder is if the high taxes that are to be placed on retail stores will be exempt for medical marijuana shops. If that’s the case, then I could see some stay the course and cater and market specifically to those with prescriptions.