Cienna Madrid in this week paper has a piece called “Don’t Bust Us!” It unpacks the strict new rules for medical marijuana dispensaries and considers the possibility (probability?) of an onslaught of federal raids:
“In a worst-case scenario, everyone associated with a dispensary could be subject to federal indictment—from the person watering plants to the person working the front desk,” says Alison Holcomb, drug policy director of the ACLU of Washington. The severity of the punishment under federal law, which provides no medical defense, “depends on how much marijuana is involved. If you have 100 plants, you’re looking at five years minimum out the door.”
What are operators of the 50-plus dispensaries in Seattle, which the city estimates serve 25,000 patients, doing to prepare?