When federal Drug Enforcement Agency agents visited a Santa Fe medical cannabis dispensary after an explosion last week, they seized what local police originally described as “evidence” for an investigation. SFR has since learned that the federal agency yanked all the marijuana plants that were growing there and hauled them away for destruction…
As investigators try to determine more details about what caused the explosion, suspected to have occurred during an extraction process at New MexiCann Natural Medicine’s compound on West San Mateo Lane, attorney Marc Lowry says the management and staff are more concerned about the health and recovery of Nick Montoya, 29, and Aaron Smith, 28, who received third-degree burns and remain hospitalized.
Yet the loss of the 150 plants—conservatively valued at $750,000—will impact New MexiCann’s fall harvest and ongoing operation…
In the meantime, SFR has also learned inspectors from the city’s fire marshal office visited New MexiCann’s facility after the producer filed a certificate of occupancy, but Fire Marshal Rey Gonzales Jr. says the gas extraction equipment was not in place during his team’s original site visit…
Meanwhile, Lowry says that Len Goodman, the founder of New MexiCann, is engaged in open dialog with all law enforcement and government agencies and is waiting to get a green light after the investigations are concluded before reopening his Santa Fe location.
Other state-licensed producers tell SFR they’re in discussions and plan to provide New MexiCann new plants so Goodman’s patients have a consistent supply of medication and he’s set back up in time to plant a new winter crop…
New MexiCann is one of the largest dispensaries in New Mexico, and one of the few that are expanding. New MexiCann’s owner has said in the past that this state doesn’t need additional dispensaries. I wonder what he thinks now? There’s been talk of shortages ever since the program began about 8 years ago, and the resulting shortages from this explosion will add to the problem.
Growing plants is a risky business. There’s bugs, mold, weather, chemicals, bad seeds, and other things that can ruin your product. (And there’s always the DEA.) The small number of dispensaries in this state (and all the things that can go wrong) harms patients every day.
All Things Chronic 
They probably smoked some. Ha ha ha! I sometimes wonder if Border Patrol agents, DEA, etc. take/smoke some after they seize it.
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Just read a story the other day about a DEA agent caught pilfering from the collected evidence, but I think that was for heroin.
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It probably happens more than we know.
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