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The dispensaries were The Olympia Patient Resource Center at 420 Steele St. and The Healing Center at 316 Capitol Way, both in Olympia; Cannabis Outreach Services at 5709 Lacey Blvd. and Lacey Cross at 4227 Pacific Ave., both in Lacey; and Triple D’s at 21530 Old Highway 99 in Rochester. The raids were conducted in conjunction with the Drug Enforcement Agency and Washington State Patrol.
The 17 people were arrested on suspicion of possession of marijuana with intent to deliver and include the dispensaries’ owners and operators, Thurston County Sheriff’s Lt. Greg Elwin said. Two were arrested at each Lacey dispensary, three at the Rochester dispensary, four at The Olympia Patient Resource Center and six at The Healing Center, he said.
Elwin said police are not targeting medical patients with legitimate “green cards,” because they are legally purchasing marijuana.
“A vast majority are legitimately seeking out marijuana for their medical conditions,” he said.
Tuesday’s arrests are the culmination of a five-month investigation, and the Thurston County Narcotics Task Force documented numerous illegal pot purchases at each dispensary, Elwin said.
“These dispensaries are operating illegally and outside of the law,” he said. “It’s our job to enforce these laws, and that’s what we’re doing today.”
Richard Williams of Centralia, who arrived as the bust was ongoing, said he is a patient at The Olympia Patient Resource Center. Williams said the operators of the dispensary are honest people who do not sell marijuana to people who aren’t legitimate medicinal marijuana patients. He said he thought the bust was unfair.
“They’re doing a legal and legitimate business,” Williams said.
Businesses near the Olympia dispensaries said Tuesday that the dispensaries were good neighbors. Traci Smith, who has a gifts-and-antiques store next to The Olympia Patient Resource Center, said the dispensary’s operator was open and communicative with her before he opened.
“The owners are wonderful people,” Smith said. “They’re great neighbors.”
Meanwhile, at The Healing Center on Capitol Way, five people who said they came from Occupy Olympia held signs to protest the raid.
John McGraw, who was working on a car at Ziegler Welding next door to The Healing Center on Tuesday, said he had no problem with the dispensary. He added that tax dollars for law enforcement might be better spent elsewhere.
“They should be out there busting people for crack and methamphetamine,” McGraw said. “They need to legalize it.”
Gary Puckett, a medicinal marijuana patient who said he has a green card, drove to The Healing Center to find it closed. He said he has hepatitis and glaucoma.
“It’s ridiculous that they make people go out on the streets to get it,” he said.
Aaron Pelley, an attorney in Seattle who works with the Cannabis Defense Coalition, said Tuesday’s busts, which also shuttered dispensaries in Pierce and King counties, will force legitimate medical marijuana patients to turn to the black market.
“It undermines the safety and the welfare of the community,” Pelley said of the busts.
Asked about the public sentiment in favor of the dispensaries, Elwin said, “It is illegal to sell marijuana, regardless of whether there’s a green card or not. Law enforcement executives in Thurston County felt it was important to address this problem.”
Prosecuting Attorney Jon Tunheim said, “We were consulted by law enforcement as to what we think the current state of the law is, and based on the evidence, it appeared that these dispensaries are operating illegally.”
The narcotics task force still was collecting evidence seized from the dispensaries Tuesday night, Elwin said. He did not know how much marijuana was seized.
One of the goals of the investigation will be to determine where the dispensaries are getting their marijuana, Elwin said.
The people arrested will have hearings in Thurston County Superior Court Wednesday.
Ben Livingston, a board member of the Cannabis Defense Coalition in Seattle, said his organization was organizing a rally in protest of the raids.
Under Washington’s medical cannabis statute, the Legislature finds that, “There is some medical evidence that some patients with terminal or debilitating medical conditions, may, under their health care professional’s care, benefit from the medical use of cannabis.”
The law also states, “The medical use of cannabis in accordance with the terms and conditions of this chapter does not constitute a crime,” and that qualifying patients, or designated providers in compliance with the law “may not be arrested, prosecuted or subject to other criminal sanctions …”
Jeremy Pawloski: 360-754-5445
jpawloski@theolympian.com
