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A Vallejo man who once ran a successful marijuana dispensary had pot seized during a 2012 investigation returned to him on Thursday, but the move comes too late to save his business.
Matt Shotwell was the founder of the Greenwell Collective, a profitable Vallejo medical marijuana dispensary with 9,000 clients before the police investigation shut down the business 18 months ago.
The case against him has since collapsed.
On Thursday, Shotwell was rummaging through the ruins of his enterprise, trying to determine if anything from a van load of marijuana buds and hundreds of moldy plants could be salvaged.
"All these bags after bags after bags of weed ruined," said Shotwell as he went through the contents of the van.
After 18 months in storage, Vallejo Police returned the pot to him Thursday under court order. The case against him has been dropped for insufficient evidence.
"I cried. I cried. I was like 'All this for nothing?'" said Shotwell.
It's a case Shotwell has lived very publicly.
The dispensary founder was one of the stars of the Discovery Channel cable reality television series Weed Country. But long before the show, Shotwell and his business were high profile in Vallejo.
"I advertised in the newspaper. Front page of the newspaper. I'm selling marijuana for cash. That's what I do. And there's nothing wrong with that in America," said Shotwell.
Raids on Vallejo's six dispensaries came in February 2012 at about the same time as the one on Oakland's Oaksterdam University. None of Vallejo's cases was successfully prosecuted.
"I believe one case was lost, and the others simply were not filed," said Shotwell.
The Vallejo Police Department said medical pot remains a priority
"If they're using it, if they're doing it in a manner inconsistent with the current law, we're going to enforce the law," said Vallejo Police Lieutenant Jeff Bassett.
"My car payments, my student loans; They were going through all my finances trying to build a case that I was laundering money," Shotwell said.
Shotwell told KTVU he is a ship navigator by training who learned the marijuana trade after his father and sister got cancer.
Shotwell said he is cultivating again at a new location with only a few hundred clients. He's cautious about getting burned again.
"Get with the program. Tax the hell out of it. Regulate it and let the people smoke," said Shotwell.
Shotwell said he plans to sue the city of Vallejo for his losses.
The city has a voter-approved ordinance regulating and taxing medical marijuana. New dispensaries are now in operation that replaced the ones that were raided and closed last year.
News Hawk- Truth Seeker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Source: ktvu.com
Author: KTVU.com
Contact: KTVU | www.ktvu.com
Website: Dispensary owner has pot returned 18 months after bust | www.ktvu.com
Matt Shotwell was the founder of the Greenwell Collective, a profitable Vallejo medical marijuana dispensary with 9,000 clients before the police investigation shut down the business 18 months ago.
The case against him has since collapsed.
On Thursday, Shotwell was rummaging through the ruins of his enterprise, trying to determine if anything from a van load of marijuana buds and hundreds of moldy plants could be salvaged.
"All these bags after bags after bags of weed ruined," said Shotwell as he went through the contents of the van.
After 18 months in storage, Vallejo Police returned the pot to him Thursday under court order. The case against him has been dropped for insufficient evidence.
"I cried. I cried. I was like 'All this for nothing?'" said Shotwell.
It's a case Shotwell has lived very publicly.
The dispensary founder was one of the stars of the Discovery Channel cable reality television series Weed Country. But long before the show, Shotwell and his business were high profile in Vallejo.
"I advertised in the newspaper. Front page of the newspaper. I'm selling marijuana for cash. That's what I do. And there's nothing wrong with that in America," said Shotwell.
Raids on Vallejo's six dispensaries came in February 2012 at about the same time as the one on Oakland's Oaksterdam University. None of Vallejo's cases was successfully prosecuted.
"I believe one case was lost, and the others simply were not filed," said Shotwell.
The Vallejo Police Department said medical pot remains a priority
"If they're using it, if they're doing it in a manner inconsistent with the current law, we're going to enforce the law," said Vallejo Police Lieutenant Jeff Bassett.
"My car payments, my student loans; They were going through all my finances trying to build a case that I was laundering money," Shotwell said.
Shotwell told KTVU he is a ship navigator by training who learned the marijuana trade after his father and sister got cancer.
Shotwell said he is cultivating again at a new location with only a few hundred clients. He's cautious about getting burned again.
"Get with the program. Tax the hell out of it. Regulate it and let the people smoke," said Shotwell.
Shotwell said he plans to sue the city of Vallejo for his losses.
The city has a voter-approved ordinance regulating and taxing medical marijuana. New dispensaries are now in operation that replaced the ones that were raided and closed last year.
News Hawk- Truth Seeker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Source: ktvu.com
Author: KTVU.com
Contact: KTVU | www.ktvu.com
Website: Dispensary owner has pot returned 18 months after bust | www.ktvu.com
