Wednesday’s DEA Medical Marijuana Raids May Have Cost Taxpayers $12.3 Million

By Scott Gacek |  The Daily Chronic July 26, 2013

OLYMPIA, WA — Federal agents from the Drug Enforcement Agency raided four medical marijuana dispensaries in Washington on Wednesday, where voters have approved both the medical use of marijuana by authorized patients, as well as the recreational use of marijuana by adults 21 or older.

The raids appear to have been the result of a two year investigation by the DEA, and a continuation of a paramilitary crackdown on medical cannabis providers that began in 2011.

But what was the cost to taxpayers, who are unknowingly financing a federal government crackdown that defies the will of voters?

Wednesday’s raid on the four dispensaries in Washington may have cost an upwards of $12.3 million, according to analysts from Americans for Safe Access, a national patient rights organization.

According to data from ASA’s What’s the Cost? report, the two year investigation and Wednesday’s raids may have cost taxpayers $12,327,732 — and that doesn’t include the cost to prosecute dispensary operators in court, or house them in federal correctional institutions for upwards of ten years or more.

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