Law enforcement agents uncovered fields of marijuana plants in east-central Minnesota worth $4.1 million during one of state’s biggest drug busts in years.Meanwhile, in Washington state, (h/t TalkLeft):
Busloads of agents seized more than 5,500 marijuana plants Wednesday in a predawn raid of land east of Hinckley, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration.
“The focus of today’s effort was to locate, document and destroy these plants before they could be harvested and enter the illicit drug market,” Minnesota U.S. Attorney B. Todd Jones said in a statement. Officers from local, state and federal agencies executed the federal search warrant.
The shelves at the Bayside Collective off of Madrona Beach Road were picked clean of marijuana Wednesday after agents with the federal Drug Enforcement Administration raided the medical marijuana dispensary with guns drawn about 11 a.m.There's a federalism issue here, since marijuana is ostensibly legal in Washington state:
Federal agents raided a number of medical marijuana collectives in the Puget Sound region Wednesday, with the majority of the law enforcement activity taking place in King and Pierce Counties, according to local dispensary employees.
The raid at the Bayside Collective was the only one in Thurston County, according to an informal poll of local dispensary owners. Seattle DEA spokeswoman Jodie Underwood could not immediately be reached for comment Wednesday.
Washington state legalized adult possession of up to an ounce of marijuana last fall. And Washington has a law that makes it legal for certain establishments - marijuana "collectives" - to provide marijuana to medical marijuana patients as long as they meet certain criteria.Oh, there are so many issues here, more than I can count up in an early morning blog post, but here are just a few:
However, marijuana remains illegal under federal law. The Washington State Liquor Control Board is currently working on setting up rules for the distribution of state-authorized recreational marijuana.
- We are throwing enormous resources at interdicting marijuana and we're using quite a lot of lethal force to do it. The guns are drawn in Olympia and there were "busloads" of agents in Hinckley. You can hear a whole lot of bitching about the sequester, but there's little evidence that the War on Drugs is getting short shrift in federal funding.
- We are going to reach a point soon where the federalism issue comes to a head. I can't imagine that folks in Olympia, or Tacoma or Seattle for that matter, are very happy about the feds going around and trashing establishments that meet state criteria. There's going to be a confrontation about this eventually and there's no guarantee that the resolution will take place across a conference table.
- While it's generally the case that most people like their marijuana for recreational reasons, there are legitimate medical uses for marijuana and there's no point in pretending otherwise. If you were a patron of the Bayside Collective and needed marijuana for a medical reason, the feds are telling you to piss up a rope.
We're coming to a time in which traditional political labels and packaging aren't going to fit. The real conflict that's going to animate our discussion going forward is the battle between those who believe in state power and view initiatives like the War on Drugs as legitimate, and those who believe in limiting the power of the state to send SWAT teams to places like Olympia and Hinckley. You're going to have to choose sides on this one soon, because there's a lot more to the discussion than dope smokin'.
15 comments:
http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/07/24/something-to-consider-before-freaking-out-about-the-dea-raiding-seattle-area-medical-pot-shops
I've been wondering when and how (but not whether) the other shoe would drop in WA. Dominic Holden brings up a good point at the link above though: that it is entirely possible the raided dispensaries were in violation of WA state law.
Thanks for the link, Brian. It's a valid point, but there's still an issue, because if the dispensaries are breaking WA state law, it's a matter for WA officials to deal with, not the DEA.
In the case in Hinckley, the feds took state and local officials in as partners. It's not always clear that's going to happen going forward, and that's where it gets interesting.
Maybe the feds dont want competition against the mexican cartels since holder like to send them weapons.
Maybe the feds dont want competition against the mexican cartels since holder like to send them weapons.
And I thought *I* was cynical ;)
That was me testing out leaving a comment from my phone. The next might be better.
Gino.
That was me testing out leaving a comment from my phone. The next might be better.
LOL.
Mark; you are cynical, but you're in good company! :^)
Speaking of being cynical, I'm told that dozens of DEA agents have serious munchies about right now.
Seriously,I'm with our host on whether it's even in the DEA's jurisdiction, and am frankly baffled about why they came in with guns drawn. SWAT raids on stoners? Really?
(yes, be armed, wear body armor if you like, get a lot of agents to make sure it doesn't disappear out the doors, but SWAT raids? )
Sending paramilitary police to serve any and all drug warrants has been standard practice for a very, very long time. Google "Radley Balko" + "another isolated incident" when you have a couple of days to kill.
Standard practice, yes, but I keep hoping that more people with a badge will start asking themselves whether it's smart practice.
Of course, since many police departments have upper limits on IQ (e.g. New Canaan, CT), I may be asking a bit much.
Sending paramilitary police to serve any and all drug warrants has been standard practice for a very, very long time. Google "Radley Balko" + "another isolated incident" when you have a couple of days to kill.
LOL, except it's not really funny at all.
There might have been a time in this country when this could have been debated as a states rights issue. We have ceded to the federal government the authority, via the FDA, to make sure our food and drugs are "safe and effective." Well there is some evidence that pot has a medicinal use, the decision remains that it should be banned for all purposes, and certainly for recreational use. Yes I know the libertarian arguments, but I'm not a libertarian.
As for what might easily be seen as police overreaction to "a little weed" I vastly prefer that to having police unprepared when they encounter heavy automatic weapons fire in the pursuit of their duties, and it DOES happen. The illegal (under ANY circumstances) pot trade has become the province of violent gangs, and the police do not necessarily know whether they are facing that or "just a hard-working member of American agriculture."
The reason I have no respect for people like Jerry here is that while they are downright blasé about the state using military tactics against its own people over plant matter, they are often the same ones who shout "tyranny!" when some suggests that maybe you should have to buy health insurrance.
The reason I have no respect for people like Jerry here is that while they are downright blasé about the state using military tactics against its own people over plant matter, they are often the same ones who shout "tyranny!" when some suggests that maybe you should have to buy health insurrance.
I do wish they were only "suggesting" it, but that's not what's coming. And to be fair, I wish that more people weren't so blasé about that.
Brian, the evidence presented here seems to indicate that you have insufficient evidence to accuse Jerry of applauding a SWAT arrest of stoners while decrying the Health Insurance Deform Act.
Unless you've got abundant interaction with Jerry--and your blog does not indicate this--I think you've really made an unwarranted assumption and rejection of a person for the same.
I don't like the police using SWAT tactics on "ordinary citizens" any more than anybody else does. I do not object to such tactics being employed against violent or potentially-violent criminals. I much prefer dead criminals to dead law enforcement officers. Now, is their discernment and discretion sometimes questionable? Of course. But I tend to save my outrage for things that are true oversteps of federal authority, like the [K]ACA.
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