FEDERAL AGENTS RAID MEDICAL MARIJUANA BUSINESSES

HELENA - Federal and local law enforcement officials raided medical
marijuana operations in at least six Montana cities Monday.

According to the Oakland, Calif.-based pro-medical marijuana group
Americans for Safe Access, at least 10 businesses were raided across
the state, including in Helena, Missoula, Belgrade, Columbia Falls,
Bozeman and Billings.

According to a search and seizure warrant served at one of the raided
facilities, officials were looking for evidence of illegal drug
trafficking offenses in violation of federal law.

Under state law registered patients are allowed to use limited amounts
of the drug for certain health conditions, and registered caregivers
can grow up to six plants per registered patient.

Federal agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the
Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Drug Enforcement
Administration were seen clearing hundreds of marijuana plants out of
Montana Cannabis' greenhouses Monday as local law enforcement
officials stood by outside the building. Montana Cannabis, with one
facility just west of Helena, is one of the state's largest medical
marijuana operations.

Several employees were also detained for questioning.

According to Chris Williams, one of the owners of Montana Cannabis,
one employee was arrested on an unrelated outstanding warrant but no
other arrests were made.

According to Williams, agents were executing a warrant signed by U.S.
Magistrate Judge Jeremiah C. Lynch of Missoula.

A copy of the warrant served at a different facility and also signed
by Lynch states that the warrant was issued on Friday but that
officials had until March 24 to execute the search. It is not clear if
more raids are planned in the coming days or weeks.

According to the warrant, agents were authorized to seize everything
from marijuana and hashish and Ziploc bags to cell phones, computers
and medical marijuana patient lists.

"(Judge Lynch) authorized federal agents to come in and enforce
federal law above state law," Williams said. "This is a state issue
not a federal issue. There shouldn't be federal agents on my ground
when we've done everything we can to do this right."

Local officials in Lewis and Clark and Flathead counties confirmed
their agencies' involvement but directed media inquiries to the U.S.
Attorney's office.

Victoria Francis, assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Montana,
declined to comment on the raids other than to say that the U.S.
Attorney's office would be issuing a press release in the coming days.
Officers at the scene near Helena also refused to comment.

Williams told reporters that agents showed up without warning at the
greenhouse west of Helena around 10 a.m. Monday. Williams said armed
agents burst into the business with guns drawn and ordered employees
to get down on the ground.

At least eight hand-cuffed people could be seen through the chain link
fence that surrounds the facility. Several employees were released
after questioning.

Federal agents donning paper masks, respirators, and what appeared to
be oxygen masks attached to large yellow tanks, were seen through the
large glass windows of the greenhouse, pulling plants from their black
plastic pots and removing them from the building.

Medical marijuana supporters were outraged at the timing and scope of
Monday's raids as lawmakers at the state Capitol continue to debate
the future of Montana's medical marijuana law.

Tom Daubert, one of the lead authors of the 2004 marijuana law and
founder of the pro-medical marijuana group Patients and Families
United, condemned Monday's raids, calling them "calculated and
political on the part of the federal government."

"Montanans have now spent nearly a year defining problem areas and
proposing solutions to our law," Daubert said. "We are now at the
height of the process of evaluating those choices and decisions and
making those choices and decisions. I think all Montanans, regardless
of our agreement or disagreement on medical marijuana, should unite in
condemning the federal government for intruding in this way at this
critical decision-making moment."

Until November Daubert was a part owner of Montana Cannabis. Daubert
said he no longer has a financial stake in any medical marijuana
caregiver operations.

As the raids were under way, lawmakers on the Senate Judiciary
Committee were in the process of voting on a House-passed measure to
repeal the 2004 voter-approved Medical Marijuana Act. The panel failed
to pass the measure on a 6-6 vote.

Barb Trego, a medical marijuana patent and the mother of one of the
Montana Cannabis employees who was detained, came in tears from the
Capitol to the greenhouse business. Trego said word that the raids
were under way spread via text messages as she was sitting in the
committee room listening to lawmakers debate the repeal measure.

Trego said she believed some of the senators who voted for repeal of
the state's medical marijuana law had advance notice of the raids.

"Those smug senators that voted against it were sitting there laughing
because they knew all of this was going on," Trego said. "Even though
the vote didn't go their way they were all smiling at us."