Local SD collective gets back raided products

There has been much progress seen in the
cannabis community of San Diego recently, even in the face of police officials expressing
aggressive behavior towards local collectives. While one Vista-based collective
was the focus of a police raid late last year, where Sherriff’s deputies proceeded
to confiscate all present merchandise and equipment after holding assault
rifles to the heads of the owners, a dose of justice has been served. On the
count of insufficient evidence, the collective was recently given back its seized
property by decree of a local judge.

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San Diego Sheriff’s officials raided
the collective in October 2013, and confiscated all present cannabis and grow
equipment in the shop, which included over 20 pounds of cannabis, filled vape
pen cartridges and multiple grams of concentrates. The cultivation equipment at
the scene was also confiscated, and estimated to be worth at least $10,000. Deputies
were reported to have approached the raid with aggression, pointing assault
rifles at the heads of business owners present at the scene.

However last
month an unusual sight at the San Diego County Sheriff’s crime lab played out
as the confiscated products and grow equipment were finally returned to the
owners after the case was dropped, according to NBC San Diego.

Laura Sharp, owner and operator
of the raided collective SoCal Pure, has mixed feelings about the event,
“I’d love to say ‘I’m so happy’ but this hasn’t been a happy experience. This
has been very trying, it’s been very expensive and it’s been very scary. It was
unnecessary. I don’t think that we needed to have assault rifles held to our
heads. I think we could have been served paperwork [instead],” Sharp commented.
The collective served an estimated 2,500 patients in Vista, but Sharp is unsure
if she will continue to operate due to the trying experience.

The District Attorney’s office
announced in April that evidence for the case was insufficient, and the judge
ordered that all confiscated items be returned back to the collective. The
costly use of taxpayer dollars on the raid was a needless expense, especially
after charges against the collective were dropped and all confiscated items
were returned to the owner. Since the raid, most of the collective’s seized cannabis
products have decreased in quality, and will have to be lab tested to ensure safety.

San Diego is currently in a transitioning
phase with its medical cannabis regulation. A limited number of approved collective
locations have been assigned to applicants; however it could take well over a
year to properly distribute licenses so the city can begin to properly regulate
its cannabis businesses.