A burglary at an Imperial Beach business led deputies to discover what they call an illegal marijuana dispensary Wednesday morning.
A neighbor called 911 to report four masked people breaking into the back door of Ideal Choice Insurance on Palm Avenue.
The suspects ransacked the business and took off with unknown amounts of marijuana and possibly cash, according to a San Diego County Sheriff’s sergeant.
But when deputies began investigating the break-in, their attention quickly turned to the business’ owner, Marcus Boyd, when they served two search warrants to the building and found about 40 marijuana plants in a room above the insurance company.
Five protestors soon arrived outside insurance company to condemn the raid, arguing that it was a collective cultivation of medical marijuana, legal under state law.
Boyd showed investigators his state medical marijuana card to validate the grow, according to Heidi Whitman, a medical marijuana patient advocate with the Americans for Safe Access.
“This is an extreme waste of taxpayer’s dollars,” said Whitman. “This is taxpayer’s dollars right here in action. They’re investigating a legal medical marijuana patient. This is state legal.”
However, the sheriff’s sergeant says Imperial Beach has issued a moratorium on enforcing the state’s law, and marijuana is still illegal under federal law. Therefore, they are required to look into the cultivation.
Now, sheriff’s officials are collecting evidence and investigating if Boyd should face possession for sales and cultivation of marijuana charges.
Burglary Unveils Marijuana Grow in Imperial Beach
No comments:
Post a Comment