Feds raid marijuana operations across state

Federal agents executed 26 criminal

search warrants at medical marijuana operations across Montana last

week — including raids in Whitefish, Columbia Falls, Kalispell and

Olney. Some warrants targeted $4.2 million at lending institutions

in Bozeman, Helena and Kalispell.

No charges were filed immediately

following the March 14 raids, but owners of the businesses reported

federal agents seized marijuana plants, computers and cell phones,

and in some instances froze bank accounts.

Michael Cotter, U.S. District Attorney

for Montana, said in a March 15 press release that the search

warrants were carried out “where there is probable cause that the

premises were involved in illegal and large-scale trafficking of

marijuana.”

The statewide sweep was the culmination

of an 18-month long multi-agency investigation, Cotter said.

“When criminal networks violate federal

laws, those involved will be prosecuted,” he said.

According to Cotter, marijuana is a

Schedule 1 drug under federal law, which means it has a high

potential for abuse, no currently accepted medical use in treatment

in the U.S., and a lack of accepted safety for use under medical

supervision.

Federal law, however, conflicts with

Montana’s medical marijuana law, which allows a qualified patient

or a caregiver to possess up to six plants and one ounce of useable

marijuana.

Cotter addressed this issue by saying,

“Individuals with illnesses who are in clear and unambiguous

compliance with state law are not the focus of this

investigation.”

“The policies of (the Justice

Department) have not changed,” Cotter told lawyers at a State Bar

meeting on March 18. “When the attorney general visited here in

February, he stated illegal sale of marijuana under the guise of

medical marijuana will be prosecuted. That is the policy.”

Federal agents searched medical

marijuana businesses in Belgrade, Big Sky, Billings, Bozeman,

Columbia Falls, Great Falls, Helena, Kalispell, Miles City,

Missoula, Olney and Whitefish.

Federal agencies participating in the

raids included the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, Homeland

Security Investigations, IRS, Bureau of Tobacco, Firearms and

Explosives, Environmental Protection Agency’s Criminal

Investigation Division, U.S. Customs, and Occupational Safety and

Health Administration. They were assisted locally by the Flathead

County Sheriff’s Office and Kalispell Police.

The federal warrants alleged that the

raided operations were involved in several violations of federal

law, including manufacture of marijuana with intent to distribute;

distribution of marijuana; conspiracy to manufacture and distribute

marijuana; and structuring transactions to evade currency reporting

requirements.

In the Flathead, agents searched a

building on Jellison Road in Columbia Falls occupied by Four

Seasons Gardening and Good Medicine Providers. Another Columbia

Falls provider, Northern Lights Medical, was also named in the

federal warrants. Agents were authorized to seize $653,550 in a

Glacier Bank account in Kalispell belonging to Four Seasons

Gardening.

Dan Decker, a marijuana caregiver in

the Flathead, said the raids had “essentially shut down every

medical marijuana dispensary.” Decker, who said he doesn’t operate

a dispensary and serves a few patients, noted that the owners of

some of the raided businesses had testified in Helena against a

bill to repeal the state’s Medical Marijuana Act. Supporters of the

Act gathered in downtown Kalispell on March 16 to protest the

raids.

In Helena, Montana Cannabis co-owner

Christopher Williams said four of his company’s facilities were

raided. Federal agents seized computers, data storage, products and

1,680 plants at the company’s greenhouse near Helena.

About 15 workers were inside the

Montana Cannabis facility west of Helena when federal agents

entered in with guns drawn. The workers were handcuffed and

detained as the search was carried out, with more than 1,600 plants

seized. The 480 flowering plants seized were estimated to be worth

about $456,000.

An affidavit that accompanied the

warrant served on Montana Cannabis revealed that federal agents had

been investigating one of Williams’ partners, Richard Flor, since

2007 and purchased marijuana from Flor on at least two

occasions.

The affidavit cited interviews with

former employees at Montana Cannabis who claimed the company

purchased medical marijuana from another provider, Big Sky Patient

Care, for several weeks in 2010 after Montana Cannabis’ main

greenhouse was vandalized.