By Curtis Cartier
Yesterday week we told you about how U.S. Attorney Michael C. Ormsby has thrown down the gauntlet on Eastern Washington medical-marijuana dispensaries, ranting about how they’re illegal and saying he’ll be cracking down like never before. This of course goes against the Obama administration’s supposed “official policy” of deferring to state law enforcement for medical-marijuana issues. But anyway, several Spokane dispensary owners are trudging on undaunted, leaving their doors open and their patients medicated.
KXLY reports today that dispensaries like THC Pharmacy and Essence of Mother Earth in Spokane are giving Ormsby the classic from-my-dead-lifeless-fingers response to his threats of raids.
Charles Wright, owner of the THC Pharmacy, tells the station that he refuses to send his patients out to find their weed on the streets.
“When it comes down to it, it creates a climate of fear that is ridiculous,” said Wright. “My phone has been ringing off the hook all day, little old ladies crying and screaming. I’ve got people in wheelchairs who are freaking out. These people can’t go out on the street and get drugs.”
It’s certainly a brave stand that the dispensary owners are making. Hopefully none of their patients pay the price of the protest. As we’ve seen before, patients themselves are not always immune to raids that target their suppliers.
