Garden Store In Santee Raided by Federal Police

During the early afternoon of Wednesday, April 24, Santee Hydroponics was raided by federal agents. The entire store’s inventory was cleared out and hauled off in a semi-truck. Meanwhile, a similar store, Miramar Hydroponics was simultaneously raided this morning. At Miramar Hydroponics, the federal agents took receipts and computers. I cannot confirm whether or not the store was emptied out in a similar fashion as in Santee. 

It is certainly alarming for any customers of these establishments to know that federal agents had special interests in confiscating receipts and computer data. This begs the question of whether patrons are now going to get raided for simply making purchases, like in Kansas and John Kohler's home of GrowingYourGreens.com where only vegetable plants were discovered . Making similar purchases at Home Depot won't get you raided, but simpy because they bought the supplies from a hydroponic store, their homes were entered and searched. It is not, as of yet, illegal to garden in the USA.

Not too much is known about the raid at this point. It happened as just after Tuesday morning’s raid of the One on One medical cannabis collective by ICE/HSI, the DEA, and local police in downtown San Diego. None of the employees were arrested nor was the owner of the collective, who showed up after the raid. You can watch a livestream of the raid here. As you know, medical cannabis is legal in California, but the federal government has been cracking down. San Diego Mayor Bob Filner is not too happy about this absurd insult to democracy and has demanded answers as to why the voices of his constituents are silenced and the voted-on legislation is not respected.

In what may or may not be a related event, a home in El Cajon was raided where they dismantled a cannabis growing operation in the garage. Unconfirmed reports speculatively suggest that the raided El Cajon home is somehow linked to the owner of Santee Hydroponics, who may or may not have a stake in the Miramar Hydroponics business as well. Whoever the house did belong to was detained and later released.

No arrests were made at any raids. Agents just walked in, took everything, and left. The owner of Miramar Hydroponics was handcuffed, detained, and questioned, but was released. 

I called the Santee Sheriff’s Department and they said they knew nothing about the raid. I called the DEA they said it was ICE/HSI. When I called Immigration and Customs Enforcement they told me they have no idea what I am talking about, but that they have no comment. 

The San Diego Chapter of Americans For Safe Access is reporting that "Federal attacks like these are holding back progress on implementing medical cannabis laws, and Americans for Safe Access (ASA) is calling on members and friends to support efforts to end this kind of federal interference and intimidation once and for all." All these raids are happening just days after San Diego City Council voted against Mayor Filner's plan to move forward with safe access for patients who need their medicine. Instead they went forward with a 2011 plan that was "rescinded because advocates for medical marijuana, who thought the proposal made it too hard for many people to get access to the herb, collected enough signatures to put a repeal measure on the ballot, and the council decided to give up rather than pay for an election." You can see comments from the meeting here. Nevertheless, in the eyes of the Obama Administration, this is in the name of moving forward and now caregivers don’t have safe access to provide medication for their loved ones and patients are left suffering without medicine to improve their quality of life- all because of this senseless war on drugs.

Also read:

• Medical Marijuana Dispensaries Still Illegal Within City Limits
• Update: Santee's Neighboring Medical Marijuana Dispensary Faces Closure
• Poll: Will Latest Effort to Allow Medical Marijuana Clinics Spread in County?
• Authorities Order Closing of Commercial Medical Marijuana Collectives in County