Medical Marijuana Site Closed By Police

[Cozmo]

Police busted an unlicensed medical marijuana dispensary last week, confiscating "Reefer's" peanut butter cups, pot brownies and marijuana-tinged barbecue sauce.

West Covina police estimated that they confiscated more than 150 pounds of marijuana and more than $10,000 when they closed the dispensary on Friday.

The dispensary was run by the same people who ran a similar facility in Hacienda Heights that was recently closed by the Los Angeles County, according to a medical marijuana advocacy group.

Police Chief Frank Wills on Monday called it "the largest seizure I've ever seen" in West Covina.

On Friday - less than a week after the Hacienda Heights collective reopened in West Covina - police arrested David Ki Nam, who they identified as the owner. Nam, 26, of Rowland Heights, was released on $50,000 bail.

Although medical marijuana dispensaries are allowed in some cities and in Los Angeles County because of state laws legalizing the facilities, they continue to be illegal under federal law. Many cities, including West Covina, ban the dispensaries.

"This legislation was meant \ a person dying of cancer," Wills said. "But to have a dozen 18-19 year olds when we went in there, all in perfect health, complaining of migraines - any reasonable person should have foreseen what this legislation would do."

Workers in an office near the dispensary complained that they had been overpowered by the smell of marijuana and that aggressive marijuana patients wandered through their offices. They declined to give their names because of safety concerns.

The city overreacted to what was essentially a zoning violation, said Chris Fusco, the Los Angeles County field coordinator for Americans for Safe Access, a medical marijuana advocacy group which has supported the Hacienda Heights/West Covina cooperative. The facility simply lacked a business license, Fusco said.

"Usually when there's a zoning infraction, they send in a zoning inspector," he said. "The city should be more willing to work with collectives and show them how they can operate in the city, instead of sending in the police."

Fusco said the dispensary was opened in West Covina because it was important to open in underserved areas.

"Patients having to take public transportation or sit in long traffic rides from San Gabriel Valley to Los Angeles is not acceptable," he said. "Opening in an area where there are already too many collectives doesn't serve anybody, and going to the areas where there aren't any is both brave and important."

Police on Monday displayed the confiscated marijuana out on folding tables, from small vials of hashish and large bags of marijuana to pre-rolled "bubba bomb" cigarettes.

The pungent smell of crushed plants permeated the room - strong enough to give some officers headaches, the chief said.

The tables were also covered in a wide variety of pot-laced food, such as lollipops, brownies with multi-colored sprinkles, beribboned bon bons, peanut butter, jelly, sodas, hot sauce, chocolate syrup, peppermint patties and bottles of "Mother's Finest Medicinal Cannabis" and "That Time of the Month Potion." Mint patties, lollipops and "Reefer's" peanut butter cups appeared to be the cheapest items at $10 each, while some of the larger bags of marijuana were priced at $540.

A sign stated "happy hour; daily 2 p.m.; until all of the supplies are gone."

"All this has been set up to focus on young kids," said Detective Travis Tibbetts. "This dispensary was operating way outside the scope of state legislation."

A hand-written sign on the door of the dispensary Monday read "Closed for Good." A 20-year-old who said he had a prescription for arthritis stood at the door after reading the sign. He had followed the collective from Hacienda Heights.

"Are you sure they're closed?" he asked. "Do you know where I can find another one?"

Fusco said he couldn't say for sure if the group would re-open.

"If I know these guys, they'll be open somewhere soon," he said. "They're a very determined group of individuals who want to see medicine get to their patients."


Newshawk: CoZmO - 420Magazine.com
Source: San Gabriel Valley Tribune (CA)
Author: Alison Hewitt
Contact: alison.hewitt@sgvn.com
Copyright: 2007 Los Angeles Newspaper Group
Website: SGVTribune.com - Home

[Pinch]

It's assholes like these that fuck it up for the rest of us.. assholes. When I lived down south there was one MCD in all of LA county.. now there are over 400 I've read. And a few assholes, so it seems.

[User]

at least the marijuana related assholes haven't killed anyone with the stuff they sell. unlike the legal pharmassies. friggin' walmart and the rest sell millions if not billions of pills everyday that harm the body, destroy the mind and cause uncountable side effects. i think everyone needs to go by the rules when it comes to medical marijuana. like it was said above we don't need assholes fucking everything up. lets not give them excuses that might be true. we have enough problems dealing with the lies and propaganda they dish out. if we see someone abusing the medical marijuana system we need to try talking to them and if that doesn't work..... well we need to do some self-policing so that someone else doesn't do it for us.

[Pinch]

Originally Posted by User

at least the marijuana related assholes haven't killed anyone with the stuff they sell. unlike the legal pharmassies. friggin' walmart and the rest sell millions if not billions of pills everyday that harm the body, destroy the mind and cause uncountable side effects. i think everyone needs to go by the rules when it comes to medical marijuana. like it was said above we don't need assholes fucking everything up. lets not give them excuses that might be true. we have enough problems dealing with the lies and propaganda they dish out. if we see someone abusing the medical marijuana system we need to try talking to them and if that doesn't work..... well we need to do some self-policing so that someone else doesn't do it for us.

You're right, the MCDs have to police themselves. Unfortunately that doesn't often work in the real world as evidenced by the development of MCDs here in the Bay Area. Cities have had to get involved and make sure that all MCDs are up to code. This is the way they weed out the "assholes". The assholes send the industry back 2 steps each time one of these events take place. They chip away at what little integrity they have gained in the community. These guys down south made nothing but enemies and money.

Oakland has only 4 licensed MCDs now. SF will be down to about 6 with new laws passed to regulate them. Berkeley has 3 MCDs. This is what's happening up here. This is what should have happened in San Diego and will probably happen in LA County.



Days of the "Wild West" MCDs in California seem to be coming to an end. MCDs have to become upstanding members of the communities which they serve like any other business or they go out of business.. whether they want to or not.

[Medical Marijuana]

It does not help the mmj cause when unlicensed dispensaries open up in new areas. All it does is alienate the local police who have no option but to act.

[User]

/\ the last thing we need is for the police to turn against us :-)

[Hunny Glo]

GREED is why I believe these raids are going... The negative attention is fueling the fire of raids, the media influences public opinion, also those of government and LEO. Negative attention + ignorance = city councils voting to ban MCDs.

MCDs that stand a better chance in surviving will need to operate more like a doctor's office or a pharmacy, patients will need to be interviewed and some will need to be turned away. Having MCD's is a valuable privledge and service for patients who justifiably need their meds. One might argue, well who's to say unless they're an M.D. whether or not a patient needs mmj? Tough question, but why shouldn't the dispensary screen ethically to protect themselves and the rest of their patients?

It's ridiculous that so many times after a dispensary is raided, the first person they interview, to largely represent that MCD's patient base is an 18-25year old super healthy looking male who says he medicates for an illness consistent with older people. Poor representation of the cause, sorry but it's true! Part of this dilema is created by even more GREED in the professional medical community, no patient support service or medical doctor should advertise nor promote that all visits result in obtaining a prescription or the visit is free! Not cool, not cool and it tells the rest of the world we are not ethical or united.

When lawmakers and inforcers see representation that the mmj community is united and has more in common with them, then we may see change.

[Medical Marijuana]

This is not an issue of greed. This dispensary was closed down because it was unlicensed. Selling weed from an unlicensed outlet is an open invitation to the police to come in and shut it down.
The only people at fault in this are the idiots who went in and alienated the local police and the local community by trying to operate an illegal business.
Think of all the grass roots support lost in this exercise!