MARIJUANA DISPENSARY RAIDED IN CLEARLAKE

LAKE COUNTY -- The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) conducted
medical marijuana dispensary raids across the Bay Area Wednesday,
according to Director of Cal NORML (National Organization for the
Reform of Marijuana Laws) Dale Gieringer.

One of the dispensaries was Holistic Solutions in Clearlake owned by
Hidden Valley Lake resident Ken Estes, 50, whose additional
dispensaries in San Mateo and Richmond and grow sites in Oakland, San
Leandro and Humboldt County were also raided. He said Friday he plans
to either "reopen or relocate" the facilities, which are now shut down.

The raids in the Bay Area received widespread media coverage due to
the fact that after the raid, two men allegedly broke into the
facility in Oakland to apparently steal pot left behind, Estes said.

"I think something must be wrong when the public can get into the
building after a raid. It compromises the security of the building it
wasn't locked down. They broke all the doors open and tore a screen
apart so you could just reach your arm in there and open it. They left
bags of pot there," Estes said.

DEA officials could not be reached for comment Friday.

Gieringer called the raids "a slip-shod operation down
here."

"The DEA bungled security during the raid. They hung around there for
the better part of the day, with bags of pot lying around. A couple of
kids tried to steal some," Gieringer said.

Estes said his sites in Richmond and San Mateo have 500 medical
marijuana patients per day, while the one in Clearlake sees about 30.

Estes has been involved in medical marijuana dispensing for 10
years.

He said a pound of dried marijuana, $2,000 in cash was taken and a
sign was knocked down at the Clearlake dispensary.

"It's very detrimental to patients. I've been watching a lot of
patients, some getting out of wheelchairs, some crying and saying
where can I go?' In Clearlake, they're going to have to drive 30
minutes or an hour to another facility to get medicine," Estes said.

While he had a dispensary in San Diego raided four years ago, he said
"this is the first time I personally experienced a raid. It's pretty
intimidating. It was pretty heavy-handed."