Pubdate: Thu, 28 Nov 2013
Source: Boulder Weekly (CO)
Copyright: 2013 Boulder Weekly
Contact:  http://www.boulderweekly.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/57
Author: Leland Rucker

ARE LAST WEEK'S MEDICAL MARIJUANA BUSTS A SIGN OF WEAKNESS OR STRENGTH?

The news was everywhere Nov. 21. Headlines blared that the Drug 
Enforcement Administration, the Internal Revenue Service and local 
law-enforcement agents, some in masks, were very publicly executing 
search warrants on dispensaries and grows and busting up cannabis 
operations in Denver, Commerce City and Boulder County. TV cameras 
focused on broken storefront windows and plants and records being 
taken out of buildings and hauled off in trucks. On a day when the 
area got its first real snow, some of the shots made the heisted 
plants look like holiday trees ready to be picked over at the local 
King Soopers.

And all this just short of six weeks ahead of the time when the state 
will begin selling retail cannabis to adults. WTF? Is the Department 
of Justice going back on its word to not interfere with Colorado 
sales? Is it sending a message as the state prepares to sell a 
product commercially that is legal under state laws and illegal under 
federal laws?

On Aug. 29 the United States Justice Department released a memo that 
indicated the federal government wouldn't interfere with state 
regulation of cannabis as long as businesses abided by a list of 
rules that included pretty obvious criminal activities: distribution 
of cannabis to minors; the use of firearms or violence; growing on 
public lands and federal property; being involved in criminal 
enterprises; preventing the diversion of cannabis to other states 
where it's illegal; and the trafficking of other illegal drugs.

 From what we have found out since then - and I'm writing this on the 
morning of Nov. 25 - it appears that the raids were focused on 
certain individuals whom the Justice Department suspects broke one or 
more of the guidelines.

I am skeptical of the government when it comes to cannabis, but the 
release issued by Jeff Dorschner, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's 
office, couldn't have been more clear. "Although we cannot at this 
time discuss the substance of this pending investigation ... there 
are strong indications that more than one of the eight federal 
prosecution priorities identified in the Department of Justice's 
August guidance memo are potentially implicated."

Local news organizations filled in some details. The Denver Post 
reported that the Department of Justice was looking into possible 
connections to Columbian drug gangs and that a couple of homes, 
including one in Englewood "a mile from the home of Peyton Manning," 
had also been raided.

At the home, agents found weapons and ammunition and arrested and 
charged Hector Diaz with a single count of possessing a firearm while 
in the U.S. under a non-immigration visa. A hearing was scheduled for 
Nov. 27. The investigation seems aimed at individuals connected to 
the VIP Cannabis dispensary in Denver. In the court filing is a photo 
of Diaz wearing a DEA cap and holding what appears to be two 
semi-automatic rifles and handguns in his belt.

Among those named as persons of interest were Laszlo Bagi, whose grow 
operation at the Beech Aircraft plant north of Boulder and another in 
Commerce City were among those visited. The Daily Camera reported 
that Bagi had been involved in civil suits regarding dispensaries in the past.

Right now it's unknown exactly how many businesses were targeted, but 
it appears to be less than a dozen, which would represent less than 1 
percent of the more than 1,300 cannabis businesses in Colorado's 
medical industry. And it's important to note that at this point, 
though people are under investigation, no one has been accused of 
anything nor charged with a crime.

With that many businesses, to imagine that each and every one would 
be operating totally legally would be naive in almost any industry, 
let alone this one. Given that a recent audit of the state's 
governance of medical marijuana pointed out lax execution and 
enforcement, the fact that medical businesses have no access to the 
banking system and that cannabis remains illegal under federal law, 
there are still incentives for criminal enterprises to become 
involved. And it's certainly not much of a stretch to understand that 
some Colorado cannabis entrepreneurs, knowing how much more it might 
fetch in say, Florida, might be involved in distributing it in other locales.

It's likely that innocent employees lost their jobs. Grow facilities 
are legal in Colorado, but when federal agents encounter cannabis 
plants, they are obliged to destroy evidence. The facility at the old 
Beech Aircraft site, which apparently contained several medical grow 
operations, was raided and all plants destroyed under federal 
guidelines. If the warrants were intended only for one business, it's 
not likely the others will be compensated for their loss.

If there are those working outside the law, this would suggest that 
the system is working the way it is supposed to, say people in the 
industry with whom I spoke. Honest entrepreneurs want proper state 
regulations and enforcement that works, and for the federal 
government to be comfortable with those rules.

While headlines like these likely will be interpreted and spun by 
those who oppose Amendment 64 as evidence of an industry out of 
control, I'm more inclined to see events like these as necessary 
corrections indicative of the growing pains of an uncertain industry 
set to change our state in ways we don't quite understand yet.

It could be a sign of the system working, and wouldn't that be a kick?
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom