Las Vegas Police Continue Medical Marijuana Crackdown

Jim Finnel

Fallen Cannabis Warrior & Ex News Moderator
Police here continued their crackdown on medical marijuana stores in the city with a raid on a grow house and medical marijuana dispensary on the south side of Las Vegas on Thursday. The dispensary, Premium Remedies is located on 8930 South Maryland Parkway.

According to Fox 5 Vegas, the raid was made in connection with the house of the dispensary owner. The house was located around the corner from the store on 700 block of Donelle Avenue near the intersection of Maryland Parkway and Pebble Street.

Also raided on Thursday was the home of the registered owner of the medical marijuana dispensary on the 700 block of Carnegie Street in Henderson. The three raids netted a total of 30 marijuana plants along with drugs including hash oil, mushrooms and cocaine.

The crackdown on medical marijuana dispensaries is nothing new. Last month Las Vegas Metro and federal DEA agents busted several dispensaries including The Happiness Consultant. The bust netted 75 plants with a street value of $175,000.

The owners of The Happiness Consultant, John and Kelly Birmele were booked on 13 charges including: conspiracy to distribute and distribution of marijuana near schools or colleges, money laundering, possession of a firearm in relation to drug trafficking, and Social Security benefits fraud.

Other dispensaries raided in the Jan. 6 raids were, The Nevada Compassionate Center, Dr. Reefer, LV Fingerprinting, and Organic Releaf.

Las Vegas police and federal agents also raided several dispensaries in September but no arrests were made at that time. No information was released at the time and the documents obtained by the federal agents were sealed. At the time a statement was released by U.S. Attorney spokeswoman Natalie Collins.

Collin issued a statement to the Las Vegas Sun. "A number of federal search warrants were served and executed today at locations in the Las Vegas Valley in connection with an ongoing law enforcement investigation," Collins read from the statement. "No arrests were made today in connection with these warrants, and the warrants and supporting affidavits are sealed; thus, no additional information can be provided at this time."

The federal agents seized the records of over 2,000 medical marijuana patients at the time of the raids from one storefront, Dr. Reefer-dot-com. In an interview with Action 13 News the owner Pierre Werner was upset that his patients' privacy was compromised. "I feel like I got robbed by the police. They took everything of value in my office and all of my patient files. I feel like they violated my patients' privacy," Werner told Action 13 News.

There are currently 13 medical marijuana businesses that are currently licensed to act as consultants for patients with a prescription for medical marijuana. Under Nevada state law, a dispensary with a medical marijuana license can legally possess one ounce of pot and grow seven plants. The issue with the law is that it is illegal to buy or sell marijuana which gives Las Vegas Metro the right to raid and shut down any store front in violation of the law.


NewsHawk: Jim Behr: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: news.yahoo.com
Author: Todd Jacobs
Copyright: 2011 Yahoo! Inc.
Contact: Yahoo! News
Website: Las Vegas Police Continue Medical Marijuana Crackdown
 
75 plants valued at 175,000. works out to $2,333 per plant. Average plant runs about 4 ounces so it must be worth $583 an ounce out there in Las Vegas.

Either that or cops are bad at math. I vote the latter....

They sure do waste a lot of time saving society from a plant.
 
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