Pubdate: Tue, 15 Mar 2011
Source: Bozeman Daily Chronicle (MT)
Copyright: 2011 The Bozeman Daily Chronicle
Contact:  http://bozemandailychronicle.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1686
Author: Daniel Person, Chronicle Staff Writer

FOUR CORNERS, BELGRADE CAREGIVERS RAIDED BY FEDS

At least two medical marijuana businesses in Gallatin County were
raided by federal agents Monday, part of an operation that saw at
least 10 businesses searched by federal authorities statewide.

The raids left plants strewn across the ground and business owners and
patients locked out of their stores with more questions than answers.
Raids were also reported in Helena, Missoula and Columbia Falls, some
of them conducted by gun-wielding agents.

"They won't say anything," Valarie Sigler said as she watched federal
agents mill around Big Sky Patient Care, the Four Corners medical
marijuana business she owns with her husband.

On Monday afternoon, federal agents stood guard at the front door.
When people arrived, the agents flashed their badges and asked if they
were patients. Eventually, a man backed a U-Haul truck up to the
building, which the Siglers expected would be used to haul away
marijuana, medical records and money from the shop that serves 400
people.

As the raid continued, patients vowed their support, and tears smeared
Sigler's mascara as she watched the scene unfold.

"They're bankrupting us is what they're doing," she said, noting that
they had invested hundreds of thousands of dollars into the business.

In Belgrade, marijuana plants worth tens of thousands of dollars were
scattered across the ground behind MCM Caregivers' storefront on
Dollar Drive.

Owner Randy Leibenguth said he wasn't at the shop when agents entered
the store and handcuffed an employee he said was "in her 60s."
Leibenguth said she was released when the agents saw there were no
weapons on the premises.

When he arrived, agents presented him a "very vague"
warrant.

"It's going to devastate us, really," he said while taking a drag off
his cigarette and fielding calls on his cell phone.

Federal agents at the businesses refused to comment on what prompted
the raids and at times threatened to remove reporters from the area
for taking photographs of them.

Questions were referred to Mike Turner, a Drug Enforcement
Administration spokesman in Denver. Turner, in turn, referred
questions to an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Montana, Victoria Frances.
Frances would not comment on the raids, only saying that the search
warrants were sealed and that more information would be released at a
later time.

The warrant served to Big Sky Patient Care was released Monday
afternoon by Americans for Safe Access, a medical marijuana advocacy
group. It gives little indication of what led federal agents to raid
the business but states that the warrant was being executed in order
to find evidence of drug trafficking. The warrant was signed by U.S.
District Magistrate Judge Jeremiah Lynch.

In 2004, Montana voters approved an initiative that legalized medical
marijuana. The industry flourished after the Obama administration said
it would not prosecute medical marijuana providers who were complying
with state law.

As the number of marijuana patients ballooned in the state, some
lawmakers sought to repeal the law - an effort that was set back
Monday when a Senate committee in Helena tabled the main repeal bill.

With the raids beginning shortly after the repeal measure was stopped,
some questioned the timing.

"We could argue about whether the timing is accidental or
coincidental, but it should raise questions about why now, and is
there an intent to skirt the democratic process," said Kris Hermes, a
spokesman for Americans for Safe Access.

Sigler said she felt persecuted for her work against that
bill.

"I just find it really funny that they did this right when we were
fighting the repeal," she said. "We were up at the Capitol every week
standing up for patients."

Hermes said that similar raids have occurred in other
states.

Later, the Siglers' lawyer Chuck Watson said the raids could signal a
change in the way the Department of Justice intends to enforce medical
marijuana laws.

"They wouldn't be doing this if it wasn't coming out of the Department
of Justice in Washington," Watson said.

"I believe Mark and Valarie have conducted their businesses in good
faith, based on what they believed they could do legally," he said.
"They've invited law enforcement into their facilities. They've asked
for law enforcement to tell them if they are complying with the law."

The raids seemed to send shudders through Gallatin County's medical
marijuana community, with concerned providers calling the Chronicle
for information. One storefront in Four Corners was locked up with its
shades drawn during its posted business hours. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard R Smith Jr.