DEA Raids in Seattle Target Marijuana Dispensaries
DEA Raids in Seattle. Federal agents raided several medical marijuana dispensaries Wednesday in Washington — a state which just decriminalized the drug last year. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s Seattle office confirmed in a brief statement that “several search warrants were executed today involving marijuana storefronts” in the Puget Sound region around Seattle.
It gave no further details, and the number of raids remained unclear Wednesday evening.
One of the dispensaries was the Bayside Collective in Olympia, the state capital, where seven government vehicles converged Wednesday morning.
Agents with guns drawn seized business records and about $2,500 worth of marijuana intended for cancer patients, Casey Lee, who works at the clinic.
“It’s humiliating,” Lee said. “They don’t get to see the cancer patients.”
Washington was one of the first states to legalize possession of up to an ounce of marijuana last year. But it remains illegal under federal law, and Lee claimed one of the agents told him, “Things are going to be hell for you.”
“One of the DEA agents said: ‘This is your second raid and your third robbery. Why do you keep doing this?'” Lee said.
“I just told him it’s because we just enjoy helping people, and he told us that he wasn’t expecting that answer.”
It is unfortunate when we live in a country that is being plagued by epidemic methamphetamine and cocaine addictions; heroin is making a huge comeback, and our federal funds are being used to hassled places that dispense marijuana. I think it is time for our President, who seems to be a president who is trying to represent the people’s needs and desires in this country, to put a stop to all of this nonsense and abolish these pot raids immediately. With their known medicinal value, and opportunities to rescue state’s financial budgets, this seems like a total waste of money and absurdity. The people have spoken; the medical community has spoken; the state treasuraries have spoken. Are you listening President Obama?