Drug enforcement agents raided the Everett headquarters of an advocacy group for medical marijuana patients, confiscating what police documents say was more than 1,000 plants and computers that the owners say contain personal information of about 200 men and women authorized to use the drug for medicinal purposes.So far, no one has been arrested or charged with a crime.
Fearful of potential repercussions and unsure of the officers' ultimate aim, patients in the CannaCare network of marijuana users have been "laying low," said one, terrified that they may be prosecuted for using a substance authorized by their physicians. "Who knows what they're doing with our information?" said Steve Newman, who has multiple sclerosis and has been associated with CannaCare for two years. "It makes me concerned -- really, really concerned. But we're pretty helpless. Nobody can say much about it."
A detective assigned to the federally funded West Sound Narcotics Enforcement Team, which launched Friday's raid, scoffed at the notion that CannaCare -- run out of the home of medical marijuana advocate Steve Sarich -- was anything other than a drug-dealing enterprise.
Detective Roy Alloway said it was "absurd" to think that the number of plants Sarich was tending would be covered by his medical authorization. "It's clear that Sarich is a guy that's selling drugs," said Alloway, who noted that state law allows no more than a 60-day supply of marijuana for medical use. The amount found in Sarich's home, he said, was "not even close."