Despite being fully compliant with state laws(according to dispensary staff members), two medical marijuana dispensaries were raided by the Drug Enforcement Administration this
past Thursday in Los Angeles. The two dispensaries that were targeted were Venice Beach's, The Farmacy, and a dispensary in West Hollywood, that has requested to remain unnamed. "We have been around for close to 10 years in Los Angeles are completely 100 percent state-compliant and we pay our taxes," said the owner of the dispensary in West Hollywood.
Both dispensaries were stripped of all their money, computers, product, and any overhead needed for conducting business while the reasons behind why they were raided remain a mystery. Earlier this year, the DEA had been told by the House of Representatives to back off medical marijuana dispensaries that were state compliant, but it appears as if they may have missed the memo. Several medical marijuana patients who witnessed that raid at The Farmacy, were devastated by the scene and according to the Huffington Post stated that the dispensary was a fair and honest establishment that treated patients with respect and dignity.
Although the reasons for the raids remain uknown the DEA has laid out
clear guidelines for state-legal marijuana businesses to abide by:
- The distribution of marijuana to minors;
- Revenue from the sale of marijuana from going to criminal enterprises, gangs and cartels;
- The diversion of marijuana from states where it is legal under state law in some form to other states;
- State-authorized marijuana activity from being used as a cover or pretext for the trafficking of other illegal drugs or other illegal activity;
- Violence and the use of firearms in the cultivation and distribution of marijuana
- Drugged driving and the exacerbation of other adverse public health consequences associated with marijuana use;
- Growing of marijuana on public lands and the attendant public safety and environmental dangers posed by marijuana production on public lands; and
- Marijuana possession or use on federal property.
