So much for the City Attorney and local business. How do the police uphold state law when the Feds drop in?

I recently spoke with a LBPD undercover narcotics investigator–who works closely with the federal Drug Enforcement Agency–about the November 20th federal raid (and subsequent closure) of Long Beach Compassionate Caregivers, a local medical marijuana dispensary.

I’ll tell you this right off the bat: we didn’t have anything to do with that.So the police department didn’t have any role in the raid at all?

No.

Was the police department contacted in advance about this?

We have communication with the DEA in regards to specific issues; that one in particular was not one that we were asked to help with…they don’t forecast most of their intentions, or what they are going to do.

Do you get any sort of warning that there is going to be some sort of action taking place–just so that you know how to deal with calls from neighbors who wonder why guys in flak jackets are swooping in next door?

They [federal agents] would typically call our patrol dispatch, because if anyone was going to get those calls it would be 911 or the dispatch center. So they would make notification just prior, but that’s just protocol for any agency going to another city.

They work independently of us. Being the DEA they can come and go wherever they want to and anywhere they please. They don’t have boundaries within cities and things like that; they do what they need to do. And we support them when they ask for our assistance, and otherwise they do their stuff and we do ours. We work with them on other situations, but as far as the medical marijuana goes, because of the federal/state separation there, we don’t really get to involved in it.

But medical marijuana is legal in this state, so when it comes to something like this–when a state law is ostensibly in conflict with a federal law–what sort of position does that put you guys in?

I would not be the one that would probably be best suited to answer that question. I would recommend that you go through our PIOs [public information officers] on that and see if they want to give you an official comment from maybe our chief or something. I can’t tell you what our stance is because I take direction and I do what I’m supposed to do.

But I can tell you that in situations where I have been called out for people making medical marijuana claims–I understand the law pretty good because I’ve educated myself and had experience with different cases–we make, “we” meaning the police officers that are on the scene, we make every attempt possible to verify that people that are making that claim are within the law, and if they are, then they’ll walk away with nothing, no problem. And I’ve got many examples where that’s been exactly the case. So we respect the law and we are going to uphold it, in regards to the way it’s written. And of course we would look at every case on an individual basis to make sure that they’re in compliance with the things that their supposed to do.

So you’ve worked with the DEA in the past. How is that relationship?

We have a great working relationship with them. But when I say we’ve worked [together] in the past, not on medical marijuana issues. There are other types of narcotic enforcement.

What sort of things have you collaborated on?

Everything from street-level drug sales all the way up to major drug trafficking organizations. We have various contacts. The DEA is so big, and depending on what sort of an operation we’re doing, the DEA has so many different facets that they can help us with anything from prescription fraud all the way up to large-scale drug trafficking organizations and gang organizations and things like that. Depending on what we’re looking at, if we’re going to ask for their help [then] we’re going to call someone different just about every time.

Do you know how many dispensaries are currently operating in Long Beach?

I don’t have the current count. They are so fly-by-night, come-and-go, just when you think you’ve got it figured out they disappear again. They tend to come and go rather quickly.

So for the most part, these aren’t established businesses with, say, a storefront that’s been there for years?

What I’m seeing–what the trend is–is that they come there for a little while and then they leave. There are some that are pretty consistent, that you can count on being there, but there’s a lot more that don’t stay very long for whatever reason. I don’t know. It’s pretty low on our priority list right now.

Any reason to expect more raids?

I couldn’t answer that.

Why that particular dispensary?

No idea.

We were curious about how these things work across jurisdictions.

Well, when you’re talking about jurisdictions, the reality is that that’s completely within the DEA’s jurisdiction. They can go wherever they want. As for anything else, you’ll just have to talk to the DEA.

Tags: DEA, Long Beach, medical marijuana, police department, Prop. 215, Rachel Powers, SB 420