Pubdate: Thu, 28 Apr 2016 Source: Trentonian, The (NJ) Copyright: 2016 The Trentonian Contact: http://www.trentonian.com Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1006 Author: Scott Ketterer NJ WEEDMAN'S RESTAURANT RAIDED ON WEDNESDAY TRENTON - The authorities raided NJWeedman's Joint on East State Street Wednesday afternoon. According to police sources the narcotics task force raided the restaurant around 4 p.m. A number of police were seen going in and out of the building, and several people were detained by police. Social media posts have popped up with the hashtag #FreeNJWeedman and friends of Ed Forchion, better known as NJ Weedman, were saying that Forchion, proprietor of the shop, was among those arrested. In addition to running the restaurant and temple, Forchion is a well-known marijuana legalization activist. Forchion's daughter confirmed for The Trentonian that he was one of the people arrested and was in custody Wednesday evening. She said that charges were likely going to be related to intent to distribute marijuana, but was unsure of what exact charges her father was facing. On the sidewalk in front of city hall, a crowd gathered to watch as police conducted their investigation. It's unclear how many people were taken into custody, or what police found as a result of their investigation. Members of the crowd yelled with displeasure at the police. Some yelled that officers used cocaine, while others yelled "fk the police, he's legal." While The Trentonian was at the scene at least three people were loaded into a police van and driven away from the scene. Police K9 units were also observed being taken into the temple/restaurant. This is not the first instance where area authorities have been at NJWeedman's Joint. On March 5 police shut down the joint around 2:10 a.m, in violation of city code. During that incident more than a dozen Trenton police officers arrived at Liberty Bell Temple III asking the congregants inside the East State Street sanctuary to pack up and vacate the premises. Forchion said of the March 5 incident violated his First Amendment rights. Forchion is also a freelance columnist for The Trentonian. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom