Federal law enforcement officers executed search warrants on three HydroWorld dispensaries in Lansing, Michigan on Wednesday, confiscating plants, personal belongings, supplies, and cash from the shops on Cedar Street.
Trisha Burch, a HydroWorld vendor who was at one of the locations when the raids occurred, said agents from the FBI, DEA and ATF handcuffed everyone inside and ordered them to the floor.
“Initially when I got there I thought they were robbed, she said in a WLNS 6 report. “I didn’t know they were robbed by the FBI.”
The raid comes as the City Council considers a moratorium on new medical marijuana dispensaries and new ordinances for existing dispensaries. Michigan’s 2008 medical marijuana legislation permits use of medical cannabis by those authorized by a physician. Licensed patients and caregivers are allowed to grow their own; however so-called “provisioning centers” remain outlawed.
In 2011, Lansing’s City Attorney Office indicated that local dispensaries were operating “at their own peril.” In 2013, Michigan’s Supreme Court ruled that the state’s public nuisance law could be used to shut down dispensaries.
HydroWorld owner Danny Trevino said he was surprised law enforcement chose to raid the locations instead of using the public nuisance law. Despite the setback, Trevino plans to stay in business.
“This is what I do. This is all I know,” he said.