FEDERAL AGENTS RAID MARIJUANA OPERATIONS

Federal agents searched several medical marijuana businesses in the
Flathead Valley on Monday, the same day similar raids were carried out
in several Montana cities.

Flathead County Sheriff Chuck Curry confirmed that the lead agency in
local searches was Homeland Security Investigations, formerly known as
Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and that sheriff's deputies
assisted in the searches.

One of the searches was conducted at a building occupied by Four
Seasons Gardening and Good Medicine Providers on Jellison Road in the
Columbia Falls area.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Montana said she could
not release more information on the statewide operation until the
sealed search warrants were unsealed by court order.

However, the Associated Press reported that the FBI and the Drug
Enforcement Administration were involved in a search at Montana
Cannabis in Helena, where at least eight people were handcuffed at one
point.

Similar searches were conducted at Big Sky Patient Care in Bozeman and
at MCM in Belgrade.

A Flathead Valley medical marijuana care provider contacted the Inter
Lake on Monday saying he had been in contact with at least five
marijuana dispensaries that have been subjected to searches.

"It's essentially shut down every medical marijuana dispensary," Dan
Decker said, adding that some of the dispensary owners who are being
searched testified against a bill to repeal Montana's medical
marijuana in a Senate hearing last week.

The repeal bill stalled in the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday
morning.

Decker said he has not been contacted by authorities.

"I don't have a dispensary," he said. "I only have a few patients."