Pubdate: Fri, 03 Nov 2006
Source: Desert Sun, The (Palm Springs, CA)
Copyright: 2006 The Desert Sun
Contact: http://www.thedesertsun.com/opinion/lettersubmitter.shtml
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Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1112
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Author: K Kaufmann
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)

FEDS CLOSE POT STORE, SAYING IT'S FOR-PROFIT

PALM SPRINGS - Charges that Palm Springs Caregivers has violated 
California law by selling medical marijuana for profit has closed 
down the dispensary for the second time in a month.

Agents from the federal Drug Enforcement Administration and officers 
from the Palm Springs Police Department served a search warrant on 
the dispensary, at 2100 N. Palm Canyon Drive, about 10:45 a.m. Thursday.

A similar search-and-seize raid closed the dispensary on Oct. 4.

No arrests were made Thursday, but the agents seized a "large 
quantity of marijuana and marijuana edibles," according to Special 
Agent Sarah Pullen, a DEA spokeswoman.

"I'm frustrated," said Jeff Brown of Palm Springs, a medical 
marijuana patient with a state-issued ID card who arrived at the 
dispensary later in the morning, only to find it blocked off with 
yellow police tape.

California's 10-year-old medical marijuana law allows patients with 
doctors' recommendations to grow and use the drug but not to sell it 
for profit. Federal law bans any use, cultivation or sale of marijuana.

The dispensary's troubles began in September when Joshua Aleck of 
Valencia, believed to be a relative of the dispensary's owner, 
allegedly left a bag with medical marijuana-laced edibles as a tip 
for an employee at The Spa Resort Casino in Palm Springs.

That incident triggered the Oct. 4 raid. The edibles seized then, 
along with advertisements for some of the dispensary's products and 
"best sellers," were a factor in today's search-and-seize raid, Pullen said.

She said the investigation is continuing.

Efforts to contact Palm Springs Caregivers on Thursday were unsuccessful.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman