Pubdate: Wed, 28 Oct 2015
Source: Orange County Register, The (CA)
Copyright: 2015 The Orange County Register
Contact:  http://www.ocregister.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/321

MORE LICENSES, FEWER RAIDS

The folks over at Sky High Collective must be on a first-name basis 
with Santa Ana's finest, as city police raided the medical marijuana 
dispensary Monday - the fourth time in five months.

It is also the same dispensary where, on May 26, a hidden security 
camera that went unnoticed recorded officers dismantling surveillance 
equipment, playing darts, making derogatory remarks about an amputee 
bystander and, purportedly, helping themselves to some edible 
marijuana products.

According to a copy of a search warrant, obtained by the Register, 
police in the Monday raid seized "about 22 pounds of marijuana 
edibles, computers, electronic tablets and digital video recorders." 
They likely got all the cameras this time. An internal investigation 
into the May 26 raid continues, although, five months later, we 
wonder if any progress has been made.

We also wonder why more progress hasn't been made on the legalization 
front; only three licensed dispensaries, out of a potential 20, have 
opened in Santa Ana. Further, the most recent raid seems just another 
example of how enforcement efforts appear to be having little effect 
on illegally medical marijuana outlets.

One patient the Register interviewed outside Sky High Collective 
summed up the conundrum. "They've already closed it a couple of 
times, but they open back up," Omar Tawil said. "I guess it's on to 
the next one."

And it will continue to be "on to the next one" until the pace of of 
opening legal dispensaries more closely approximates the zeal with 
which illegal operators are closed.

The pattern of sporadic raids on unlicensed dispensaries, coupled 
with a prolonged licensing process for more businesses, denies 
revenue to the city and harms the legitimate operators, who are 
placed at a competitive disadvantage against their illicit rivals for 
agreeing to the regulatory hurdles and hefty fees the city requires.

South Coast Safe Access paid the city $22,900 in its first month of 
legal operation, but, the Register noted, the operators felt business 
had been "slowed by unlicensed, illegal competitors." Licensing 
delays are only further enriching the illicit marijuana trade.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom