Jacob Bell
New Member
HELENA, Mont. — Federal agents with guns drawn raided at least 10 medical marijuana operations across Montana on Monday, the same day that a bill to repeal the state’s medical marijuana law stalled in the Legislature.
Agents near Helena burst into Montana Cannabis’ greenhouse, where the company grows more than 1,600 plants for its four stores across the state. The greenhouse runs about half the length of a football field and is packed with marijuana plants that can be seen from U.S. Highway 12.
About 15 workers were inside the warehouse during the morning raid. Montana Cannabis employee Brett Thompson, 30, said he stepped outside to smoke a cigarette and saw agents running up the driveway.
"They came in, guns drawn, got us down on the ground and in cuffs as fast as they could," Thompson said.
Federal agents detained Thompson and his co-workers in handcuffs outside the greenhouse, where sheriff’s deputies and Helena police officers stood guard. Inside, agents in DEA and FBI jackets wearing respirator masks and blue gloves yanked waist-high plants from their pots and hauled them out of sight wrapped in blue tarps.
It was not immediately clear why the raids took place.
A spokeswoman in the U.S. attorney’s office in Montana said the federal agents executed search warrants that are under seal. She declined to comment further.
Agencies involved included the Drug Enforcement Administration, the FBI, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Medical marijuana has become a hotly debated issue in Montana, and the Legislature has been debating whether to eliminate the law. The industry has exploded in the last year and reached the point where one out of every 19 households in Montana now has a medical marijuana card.
Montana Cannabis co-owner Christopher Williams told The Associated Press that raids were taking place at his business’ four locations. An advocacy group, Americans for Safe Access, said at least 10 businesses were raided in six cities across the state.
The DEA and U.S. attorney’s office would not confirm how many businesses were raided.
Thompson said they questioned each worker individually and then released them, except for one worker who had an outstanding warrant.
The search warrant allows agents to take the company’s computers, data storage, products and plants, Williams said, but he wasn’t sure why the raids were taking place. His personal and business bank accounts were also frozen, he said.
A warrant obtained by Americans for Safe Access and signed by U.S. magistrate judge Jeremiah Lynch of Missoula listed 13 items to be seized, including marijuana and hashish, drug paraphernalia, computers and other electronic storage devices, cell phones, firearms, transportation and customer records, transaction records, cash, jewelry and vehicle titles.
The warrant, which was for Big Sky Patient Care of Bozeman, did not say why the items were to be seized.
"It’s strictly a political move to stop us from providing medicine to sick people," Williams said, standing outside the fence at Montana Cannabis.
The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 6-6 to reject House Speaker Mike Milburn’s House Bill 161, which would repeal the medical marijuana law approved by Montana voters in 2004. Republican Committee Chairman Sen. Terry Murphy said the panel will look into creating a reform bill to tighten regulation of the industry.
Barbara Trego, Williams’ mother and another worker at the Montana Cannabis, was at the Capitol for the hearing, said she received word of the raid before the vote. She said some of the people who use the company’s marijuana are cancer patients and she feared what would happen to them if the operation shut down.
"We weren’t trying to hide anything. Our windows are open. Our door was open," she said. "We’ve got patients that could die just by what’s happened today."
The raid caused traffic to slow as people passing by tried to ascertain what was happening. One man in a minivan honked his horn and shouted out the window, "Thank you, Helena Police Department! It’s about time!"
Williams said of the 1,680 plants inside the greenhouse near Helena, 480 were flowering plants that produce about 5 ounces of marijuana each. He said he sells an ounce for $190 — meaning approximately $456,000 worth of marijuana was confiscated from that one location.
News Hawk- Jacob Husky 420 MAGAZINE
Source: bostonherald.com
Author: Associated Press
Contact: Contact Us
Copyright: Boston Herald/Herald Media
Website: Feds raid Montana medical marijuana businesses
Agents near Helena burst into Montana Cannabis’ greenhouse, where the company grows more than 1,600 plants for its four stores across the state. The greenhouse runs about half the length of a football field and is packed with marijuana plants that can be seen from U.S. Highway 12.
About 15 workers were inside the warehouse during the morning raid. Montana Cannabis employee Brett Thompson, 30, said he stepped outside to smoke a cigarette and saw agents running up the driveway.
"They came in, guns drawn, got us down on the ground and in cuffs as fast as they could," Thompson said.
Federal agents detained Thompson and his co-workers in handcuffs outside the greenhouse, where sheriff’s deputies and Helena police officers stood guard. Inside, agents in DEA and FBI jackets wearing respirator masks and blue gloves yanked waist-high plants from their pots and hauled them out of sight wrapped in blue tarps.
It was not immediately clear why the raids took place.
A spokeswoman in the U.S. attorney’s office in Montana said the federal agents executed search warrants that are under seal. She declined to comment further.
Agencies involved included the Drug Enforcement Administration, the FBI, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Medical marijuana has become a hotly debated issue in Montana, and the Legislature has been debating whether to eliminate the law. The industry has exploded in the last year and reached the point where one out of every 19 households in Montana now has a medical marijuana card.
Montana Cannabis co-owner Christopher Williams told The Associated Press that raids were taking place at his business’ four locations. An advocacy group, Americans for Safe Access, said at least 10 businesses were raided in six cities across the state.
The DEA and U.S. attorney’s office would not confirm how many businesses were raided.
Thompson said they questioned each worker individually and then released them, except for one worker who had an outstanding warrant.
The search warrant allows agents to take the company’s computers, data storage, products and plants, Williams said, but he wasn’t sure why the raids were taking place. His personal and business bank accounts were also frozen, he said.
A warrant obtained by Americans for Safe Access and signed by U.S. magistrate judge Jeremiah Lynch of Missoula listed 13 items to be seized, including marijuana and hashish, drug paraphernalia, computers and other electronic storage devices, cell phones, firearms, transportation and customer records, transaction records, cash, jewelry and vehicle titles.
The warrant, which was for Big Sky Patient Care of Bozeman, did not say why the items were to be seized.
"It’s strictly a political move to stop us from providing medicine to sick people," Williams said, standing outside the fence at Montana Cannabis.
The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 6-6 to reject House Speaker Mike Milburn’s House Bill 161, which would repeal the medical marijuana law approved by Montana voters in 2004. Republican Committee Chairman Sen. Terry Murphy said the panel will look into creating a reform bill to tighten regulation of the industry.
Barbara Trego, Williams’ mother and another worker at the Montana Cannabis, was at the Capitol for the hearing, said she received word of the raid before the vote. She said some of the people who use the company’s marijuana are cancer patients and she feared what would happen to them if the operation shut down.
"We weren’t trying to hide anything. Our windows are open. Our door was open," she said. "We’ve got patients that could die just by what’s happened today."
The raid caused traffic to slow as people passing by tried to ascertain what was happening. One man in a minivan honked his horn and shouted out the window, "Thank you, Helena Police Department! It’s about time!"
Williams said of the 1,680 plants inside the greenhouse near Helena, 480 were flowering plants that produce about 5 ounces of marijuana each. He said he sells an ounce for $190 — meaning approximately $456,000 worth of marijuana was confiscated from that one location.
News Hawk- Jacob Husky 420 MAGAZINE
Source: bostonherald.com
Author: Associated Press
Contact: Contact Us
Copyright: Boston Herald/Herald Media
Website: Feds raid Montana medical marijuana businesses
