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By: Michael de Yoanna

Category: multimedia, Shopping, Panorama, Crime, Business, People

Posted: February 15, 2010 11:11 AM

What Critics Are Saying About the Highlands Ranch Marijuana Raid

Lawyer Robert Corry, a staunch defender of medical marijuana users and producers, wants federal officials to discipline the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents involved in the raid of a Highlands Ranch home on Saturday. He claims the bust violated the agency's new policy to not target growers who comply with state laws, including those who provide medical marijuana (via The Associated Press). Denver DEA Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey Sweetin claims the operation posed a safety concern because it was near a school and violated state law. Drug agents walked out with several large trash bags filled with marijuana plants and grow lights, notes 7News, which reports that Chris Bartkowicz, who recently bragged to the media that his basement operation was raking in hundreds of thousands of dollars, is expected to face federal drug charges. The Aurora Sentinel uses the incident to reinforce its view that the prohibition of marijuana "only serves to enrich criminals, while regulation and legalization could be made to serve us all," including increased tax revenues. Tom Noel, a University of Colorado-Denver history professor, writes in The Denver Post that as Colorado governments consider ways to regulate medicinal marijuana, "a glance backward shows how we got to this point. Once upon a time all drugs were legal, there was no Drug Enforcement Agency, and a million people were not behind bars on drug charges."
Comments

Don't believe that we are happy about this in Highlands Ranch. We're far more afraid of rogue federal agents than we are of someone growing plants in his basement in accordance with the Colorado Constitution.
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