The raids come just six weeks before Colorado's state-licensed pot shops are scheduled to start selling marijuana for recreational use. But industry leaders seem to be viewing their competitors' legal troubles with equanimity. "Really, I see enforcement actions happening as a sign our industry is maturing and this program is working," Mike Elliott, president of the Medical Marijuana Industry Group (MMIG), told the Post, although he did add that "it's important to remember people are innocent until proven guilty." MMIG board member Andy Williams, who runs Denver's Medicine Man dispensary, appeared pleased as well. "I want the bad actors gone, quite honestly," he said.
Mason Tvert, who co-managed Colorado's legalization campaign and now works for the Marijuana Policy Project, was a bit more wary. "The Justice Department said it would respect states' rights to regulate marijuana, and that it would not go after businesses as long as they are complying with state laws," he said. "We hope they are sticking to their word and not interfering with any state-regulated, law-abiding businesses." Rob Corry, a Denver attorney and marijuana activist, told the Post: "The DOJ needs to explain in a logical fashion why they are picking and choosing, going after only some of these entities when every one of them selling marijuana is running afoul of the federal law."
These raids are an unusually aggressive move by Walsh, who until now had mostly contented himself with shutting down dispensaries he deemed too close to schools by sending them threatening letters. But the Justice Department's new policy regarding state-legal marijuana businesses leaves a lot of leeway for prosecutorial discretion. If I were a dispensary owner planning to get into the newly legal recreational market, I would pay careful attention to Walsh's explanation, assuming he ever offers one, of exactly how businesses such as VIP Cannabis crossed the Justice Department's faintly marked red lines.
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