The LA Times reports on a DEA raid at Organica Collective, a Culver City medical marijuana dispensary.
Gina Ferazzi's photos of the raid are wonderful. My favorite is the one of a hipster-looking agent with a healthy soul-patch on his chin and a giant pistol on his belt.
The federal operation came on the same day an appellate court in San Diego ruled that federal law does not preempt the state's law allowing the use of medical marijuana — a ruling touted by supporters of California's medical marijuana law as a significant win.
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Clyde Carey, 50, of Marina del Rey was at the store Friday visiting a friend when agents burst in through the locked front door, he said.
"We heard some noise outside, and then the door literally burst in, and the DEA came in in full combat gear, told everybody to get on the floor and put their hands behind their heads," Carey said. "It was like, literally, an episode of "24," when they bust in on a terrorist cell."
Carey, who said he has multiple sclerosis and has been a dispensary customer since February, stood across the street near a Starbucks with about half a dozen people who had witnessed the raid, watching agents walk in and out.
He said DEA agents searched and cuffed the roughly 25 people inside the building, which also includes four upstairs rooms. Then agents started searching the premises, removing computers, medicine and money, and using a steel cylinder battering ram to get into the upstairs bedrooms, Carey said.
DEA agents raid Culver City medical marijuana dispensary (LA Times)
