The Drug Enforcement Agency hit several marijuana dispensaries in Seattle, Tacoma, Olympia, and Gig Harbor today, saying only that the companies were operating under state laws but not federal ones.
Employees of the dispensaries–which handle plants as well as the edible marijuana products sold in various legal shops in the area–say they think authorities need to get the gray area cleared up when it comes to what is legal and what isn’t.
“It hurts me a lot. This is really hard. This is my life,” said Addy Norton, an employee with Bayside Collective in Olympia. “This effects everybody — it effects our family at home. I mean, this doesn’t just effect the state and the feds, it effects all of us.”
Patients who depend on medicinal marijuana are confused as to why there would be raids at all, since weed was legalized in Washington in November.
“You can’t tell me there isn’t [sic] bigger fish to fry, especially now that recreational marijuana is legal [in Washington],” patient Leif O’Leary said. “It is just to me inconceivable that this is still happening.”
DEA reps would only say that they will still uphold federal law despite what certain states are doing, as they have all along.
“The Drug Enforcement Administration’s enforcement of the Controlled Substances Act remains unchanged,” said the DEA in a 2012 press statement. “In enacting the Controlled Substances Act, Congress determined that marijuana is a Schedule I controlled substance. The Department of Justice is reviewing the ballot initiatives and we have no additional comment at this time.”
