Feds Spend $1 Million to Shut Down Single Marijuana Dispensary
Nineteen states and the District of Columbia have medical marijuana legislation on the books. Voters and/or lawmakers in each of these states have decided that the benefits of patients having access to marijuana as medicine outweigh the drawbacks. Though some of these states are being slow to get the industry actually moving, they’ve taken a big step by making it law. Still, the federal government is looking down its nose, casting approving looks and threatening action. In fact, the feds care so much that they are shelling out $1 million to shut down a single medical marijuana dispensary.
In the face of massive amounts of evidence pointing toward the beneficial properties of marijuana, the drug is still considered a highly addictive and dangerous Schedule I drug by the federal government. As long as it is classified as a Schedule I substance, medical marijuana laws in the aforementioned states will be against federal law. And as long as that is true, federal law enforcement will move in on dispensaries and federal prosecutors will press charges.
Despite promises to the contrary, more marijuana dispensary raids and prosecutions have taken place under President Obama than any other president. And while shutting down these dispensaries is said to be a “low priority”, the feds are showing us otherwise.
This is most evident when you look at the cost of a single raid.
The Cost of Shutting Down a Medical Marijuana Dispensary
The Atlantic did just that, profiling the cost of federal enforcement against one dispensary owner—Matthew R. Davies. Davies operated a dispensary in California. He followed the rules. He paid taxes. He had accountants, compliance lawyers, used a payroll firm, and managed a staff of 75.
He was a law-abiding business man. He, like many other dispensary operators and medical marijuana users, believed the federal government would leave him alone if he followed the laws of the state of California. He was wrong.
Federal agents raided his business and arrested Davies. The U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of California, Benjamin B. Wagner (ironically an Obama nominee) sought a lengthy sentence in a federal institution. If he was sentenced to the minimum 5 years being sought, The Atlantic says that these are just some of the costs incurred:
- $250,000 for his incarceration
- Lost tax revenue from his business
- Two young girls without their father for five years
- Increased business for black market marijuana dealers
- Costs associated with patients who must now go elsewhere for their medicine
- And the opportunity cost of focusing on Davies’ prosecution rather than other crimes
And what are the real benefits of shuttering his shop? It seems the only benefit is enforcement of the law for the sake of enforcement, for sending a message to other dispensary operators that even if they abide by state law, Uncle Sam will still take their livelihood and incarcerate them.
Perhaps most disappointing is that Davies is only one of many. The federal authorities have raided dispensaries in several states and sought to imprison business owners who have violated no state laws. It’s in instances like this that we see just how dedicated the feds are to keeping their Drug War alive.
Additional Sources:
The prohibition of cannabis by the federal government and their persecution of law abiding citizens in legal states is unconscionable. It is driven purely by their not wanting to admit how wrong they really are and have been about a harmless plant and their greed and want for more power. It amazes me that our president who claims to have bigger fish to fry than going after citizens following the laws in their state, is actually allowing those in his charge to spend money he could be putting towards Obamacare and all his other programs, and instead using it to federally raid and prosecute innocent people. I find it ironic that medical cannabis is legal in Washington DC yet those that live and work in DC are going to other legal states and stealing their citizens medicine and jailing and prosecuting their innocent citizens… And basically giving many patients a death sentence for lack of their medicine that was confiscated.
If people knew the law, and Fed. Jurisdiction, they would know the feds have zero authority interfering with State and public laws. It amazes me that no one treats them as the violent criminals they are. Sheriffs can be made to obey their oath of office and arrest them. Sheriffs are the highest authority in all counties they represent, and work for. A few thousand people or more storming the sheriffs office and demanding he do his job just might get him to do it, but people are so brain dead they’ll just keep paying him for violating his oath, and not doing his job.
Actually, Roy, the Obama administration and several Democratic governors are attempting to say that sheriffs do not have the authority to make arrests. This has been going on since early 2012, I think. It definitely heated up after many sheriffs declared that they would not enforce Obama's gun confiscations.
The position of sheriff is an elected office, elected by the people, while police officers are appointed by politicians. Obama is saying that only police departments have the power to arrest, and that sheriffs can only serve in an administrative, civil capacity.
So, in other words, I wouldn't encourage people to blame the sheriffs, who are already on the frontlines of a war started against us by our federal government.
Obama is a f’n scum bag. Matter of fact, he gives scumbags a bad name. He’s a traitor to the USA and the world in general. The leader of the free world, and he can’t find anything good to do for the people that put his punk ass in charge. Black folks should be mad as when the police beat Rodney King down. What a joke this place has become. Raw milk raids, legal weed shops raids, front yard garden raids. Are these dudes just bored?
Im sure that big pharmaceutical companies paid obomba more than enough to make up for the lost revenue.