Multiple Search and Seizures from DEA
on Dispensaries and Private Homes in Colorado Leaves Unanswered Questions of
the Viability of DOJ’s stance on State’s rights on Medical Marijuana
By: Chelsea Shaker
Colorado is at a crossroads with
economic growth and prosperity in the marijuana industry. With the Department
of Justice laying the groundwork for individual states to manage their
marijuana enforcements as of August 2013 and the federal Drug Enforcement Agency’s
interfering with local marijuana cultivation and dispensary models, no one is
sure where to turn for clarity. The month of November was filled with multiple
search and seizures on businesses, warehouses for marijuana cultivation, and
private homes based on multiple reports of illegal drug cartel ties, possible
IRS fraud, and non-compliance with state marijuana laws. Officials would not
release information regarding specific reasons for the raids except for
“concerns with trafficking outside state lines and money laundering.” Clearly
another tactic used by the DEA as a last-ditch effort to maintain their
police-state stance in the matter of marijuana.
At least ten “target subjects” are
involved in the raids across Colorado, including prominent dispensaries Swiss
Medical out of Boulder and VIP Cannabis from Denver, as well as a cultivation
warehouse used for Golden Goat Wellness in Denver. Also named a person in interest is Juan
Guardarrama, a Miami-native, Cuban-American with possible ties to the Colombian
cartel with a lengthy criminal record, coined as “Tony Montana”. The extent,
credibility, or background of Guardarrama’s involvement with these raids, or
any other links that may tie him to said cartels is not available at this time.
The attorney for Swiss Medical, James “Skip” Wollrab, claims “They took $1
Million worth of plants from his facility…They didn’t leave any explanation,
saying don’t replant. There was no court order of cease and desist. No
explanation.” As for VIP Cannabis, the
impact of the raids on their facilities was felt by the community, with no
regard for Colorado’s countdown to full retail distribution of marijuana in
businesses. Customers were turned away. The front window of VIP Cannabis, one
of the largest dispensaries in Colorado, was smashed from robbers of a
different nature (the DEA) and evidence in any form was confiscated for further
investigation: safes, financial records, marijuana plants, and various
merchandise. No arrests were made at all. A simple search and seizure, which
will end in legal cases galore and impending bankruptcy for Swiss Medical owner
Laszlo Bagi, is only skimming the surface of the negative impact and waste of
resources this is imposing on our economy, as well as business owner and
marijuana rights that are consistently being challenged and tampered with by
federal authorities.
It leaves us to wonder “Who is
authorizing these raids, based on what forms of viable proof of wrong-doing,
and WHY? Jeff Dorschner, a spokesman for
the Denver Dept. of Justice, explained to the Denver Post recently that the
raids were a joint effort on behalf of local and state authorities, the DEA,
IRS Criminal Investigation Unit, and Denver Police Department:
“Although we can not at this time
discuss the substance of this pending investigation, the operation under
way…comports with the Department’s recent guidance regarding marijuana
enforcement matters….There are strong indicators that more than one of the
eight federal prosecution priorities identified in the DOJ’s August guidance
memo are potentially implicated.”
August 29th fell short of
a triumphant day for thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of marijuana
industry related business owners, when the Department of Justice’s Attorney
General Eric Holder released a memo giving “clarification” that the federal
government would still “aggressively enforce” certain areas of concern around
marijuana, but would respect state’s rights to enforcement, legalization, and
prosecute at their own discretion.
From the memo’s areas of concern:
· Preventing distribution to persons
under 18 years of age
· Preventing revenue from marijuana
sales from going to criminal ‘enterprises’, gangs, firearms and cartels
·
Preventing
marijuana to be taken into other states
· Preventing violence or use of in the
process of cultivation or distribution
· Preventing state-authorized marijuana
activity from being used as a cover or pretext for trafficking of other illegal
drugs or other illegal activity
· Preventing drugged driving and the
exacerbation of other adverse public health consequences association with
marijuana
· Preventing cultivation of marijuana
on public land
· Preventing marijuana possession on
federal property
You may be thinking what the rest of us are…”How vague and deterred is
this?” This memo does not protect anyone, it established vague language on what
not to do in such a way that any form of law enforcement can manipulate and
distort its’ very purpose into automatic wrong-doing. Whether or not these
cases in point throughout Colorado were valid cases to investigate or not is
left to be determined, but what is to be said about the DOJ’s “great memo of
the century”, they had better prepare their legal teams with knowledgeable,
fact-based memos next time around because American’s are well aware what vague
language does for our society. It simply implements grey areas, confusion, and
law-bending tactics from special interest administrations whose sole purpose of
existence is to keep the citizen’s rights on the hot plate. If 21 out of 50
states in this country have successfully delegated, promoted, and passed
marijuana initiatives both medical and recreational, it is time for a
bi-partisan, Governor-backed national coalition, backed by the citizens of
every state who supports it, to bring down the tyranny and misuse of resources
by the DEA and like-minded groups. Let’s offer a much more concise outline.
Dispensaries transferring medicine, warehouses cultivating a plant that is
clearly not a drug and offering a product to the people IS NOT A CRIME. Having
their livelihood torn apart, their business exploited, their financial
circumstances investigated is nothing short of a police state that not ONE
person agrees to, signed up for, or should stand to be harassed by any more. How
to dissuade the DEA’s stance on marijuana is a question that has now gone down
in history. Let’s solve it. Good luck to everyone in this similar situation. Or
will it soon be all of us?? The plot thickens..
