Patient Advocates Condemn Federal DEA Raids in San Diego San Diego, CA -- Federal agents raided at least three San Diego-area medical marijuana dispensaries today in the early morning hours. Sources say that Green Kross, Unified Collective and Kush Lounge were all served federal search warrants and were subjected to aggressive SWAT-style raids which resulted in the arrest of as many as 12 people and the seizure of money, medical marijuana and patient records. These raids come as the City of San Diego is deliberating an ordinance to regulate the local distribution of medical marijuana.
"The patient community is outraged by these actions and demands answers," said Eugene Davidovich of the local San Diego chapter of Americans for Safe Access (ASA), the country's leading medical marijuana advocacy group. "Why is the federal government attempting to undermine our local efforts to regulate?" A recent San Diego Gran Jury encouraged local governments to follow through on implementing state law by regulating medical marijuana distribution facilities that provide needed medicine to patients throughout the county. Both the City and County of San Diego are on the verge of approving regulatory ordinances.
Several federal raids have occurred in San Diego over the past few years, typically with the cooperation of local law enforcement and District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis. The latest raids happened in September 2009 under a multi-agency law enforcement operation. Despite the confidence of Dumanis in prosecuting state cases against local dispensary operators, one of them being Davidovich, they have only resulted in jury acquittals. "Despite a failure to win convictions in state court, Dumanis continues to aggressively enforce and prosecute groundless medical marijuana cases," continued Davidovich.
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