Blog

Armed robbery or public safety?

Feb 04, 2009

California, DEA, Eric Holder, Los Angeles, Obama


Last week, MPP's Dan Bernath compared the DEA's continuing to raid state-legal medical marijuana providers and obstructing research to those of a chicken with its head cut off. Yesterday, that damn chicken continued to wreak havoc on California.

While new attorney general Eric Holder was being sworn into office in Washington, D.C., DEA agents armed with semi-automatic weapons were kicking in the doors of medical marijuana collectives in Los Angeles.

These raids looked a lot more like armed robberies than legitimate law enforcement actions. No arrests were made but agents reportedly stormed in, grabbed all the medical marijuana they could, and made off with whatever cash was in the registers.

The string of four operations was carried out with the kind of efficiency one would only expect from experienced criminals. Agents were able to seize the spoils and head off to rob – er… I mean, “raid” – the next facility before the victims even knew what hit them.

The LA Times reports that the DEA didn’t even bother to notify local law enforcement of their actions.

Local officials in Los Angeles, who are currently working on a plan to regulate medical marijuana facilities, have already taken a stand against these federal actions. It's time for President Obama and Attorney General Holder to listen to the Angelenos - and voters across the nation - who support medical marijuana and finally put an end to these attacks.