Lusi
New Member
This starts with a tale of a local dispensary raid, and ends with how to avoid the eyes of the law and those of thugs. Both sides are observant, are you? As a veteran and person who has been and still is against illegal drugs, I hope my observations as an outsider looking in and as a believer and user in medicinal cannabis will do some good. If we want to be taken seriously, nationwide, we must make some changes! My opinions might offend some people, but doubt anyone would read this far enough along to get offended. lOL! If a word is out of place, the iPad auto-spell correct is the culprit. (sorry) If the dispensary tale gets dull, skip to the page break. 
)))
My only local dispensary was raided and closed last year. They had been under surveillance for 9 months and knew about the guy in the car outside. They hired lawyers and made sure everything was by the book. The owner was a kind genuine woman that would run things to my house when I couldn't get a ride. -I was there in the dispensary the day the police under covers came in.
It's all about how a person carries themselves and how they are extra aware that got my attention. Two guys came in with legit cards, signed up, went into the bud area. The one in charge laid out $200 bucks, fresh from a bank envelope, then said "How high can I get for $200?" He was strong, muscular, handsome, confident, cocky, and had dark glasses on inside. The other guy never spoke and was doing the looking around. He was so average looking, I only remember the slight frame and mouse colored hair. He was new, why wasn't he buying anything? No one is allowed in the back without a card and membership. If you need pushed about in a wheel chair, the employees take over -the pushing while the others sit outside with magazines to read. I wasn't the only one with warning bells going off in my head. You could have heard a pin drop! The other patients all left. I was buying my edibles and tried to help the two young ladies behind the counter. I went with laughter to cover unease... Told the jerk (nicely) he had the wrong place to get high, go buy from the street at lower prices if that's all he cared about. (silence with cocky grin was the response) he was very focused on the employees, in a weird way. Other guy was in the cornea, back to the wall. I went on, that nothing makes me high, I fall asleep before that happens. (true) I took him over to the fridge and pointed out a few good edibles and handed him bottle of lemonade. I kept talking and said this drink helped my more quickly than the edibles, but longer than buds and concentrates. I pointed out dome $20 toffee bars on sale for $5 and he didn't take one! How can someone with their first med card and no idea of what to get pass by a deal like that? I then added, i'm allergic to smoke and even thick vapors, but for pain edibles were the best. Was this his first time? Did he have a vaporizer? What did he need it for? (still no reply on that) I had hoped if I was annoying enough, he would leave and return some other day, and be recognized. Ya can't do eye contact with dark sunglasses. :-( Neither man was looking in the display case, or asking questions. The mousey one never spoke. What I should have done was purposely fall. I have my roll down from many accidents and it would have shown me his reflexes, and one of them would likely help me outside and split up, break the scam. I failed and left.
The next day, they raided the place, before it was even open! The landlord was there with a key to let the, inside, but oh no..... They drove into the store front glass window and went in that way while the owner and landlord stood outside. It's all hear-say, but the window was gone when I looked later. If it was a raid, why was the landlord present with a key? They threw the owner in jail and took everything they could and destroyed what could be carried. Why was there money inside from the previous day, thousands of dollars? All buds, money gear... All destroyed. I attended a legal meeting there a month before and heard the stories. The ending to this one will be years from now. The owner was accused of owning another store with the same name in another town. Is that illegal? In reality, she does not own another place and there is no other dispensary by the same same in CA. They claimed the employees were underage and serving underage patients. BS . They women look young, but are over 21. I never saw a stoned employee. I spent many hours lounging on the sofa, listening and watching while I waited for a ride home. There's nothing like that going on. They claimed the place sold to an undercover. The men had legit cards and checked out. It's illegal not to allow them in! They should go after the doctor that took their money and gave them cards when they had nothing wrong with them! My guess, they get no money arresting a doctor who is crooked. Maybe in a few years, I can add the ending here. :-(
I now understand why people legally using MMj have to hide like criminals. You get fired from your job with MMj. You get denied medical care and medication when you fail the pee test, and are treated the same as drug users. You get robbed, become a target for cops and crooks. You get treated like a drug addict! I've made it through life never trying an illegal substance of any sort, not even pot. Tried that legally in Amsterdam. Lol The number one problem I see over and over is simple to correct. If you dress, act, speak like a stoner or pot head, expect to be treated as one. Hippy clothes, the scraggly goatee, the manner of speech and choice in words... This in not hip or cool, it's foolish and degrading. The bloodshot dilated eyes in the middle of day are obvious. The gangster lingo out of a grown man is asking for trouble. If I spot these people in a crowd, anyone else can. Is it so hard not to speak normal English and wear normal clothing, to blend in and not draw negative attention to yourself? -People acting like this are giving medical cannabis a bad rep and hurting other people in the process. A scraggily group of picketers in from of the court house brings negative attention from those passing by, including jurors. We desperately need to blend in with the average American and treat medical cannabis as a medication. How can we expect for the everyday average Joe to take medical canna seriously if -we don't?-
Think, of it like this.... If you travel to another country and take a stroll down the street while wearing obvious American clothing, gawking, speaking loudly and insultingly in English, thinking no one around you knows what your saying, wearing head phone, or yapping on the phone... You become an easy target and will be approached and followed until the opportunity arises to lighten your pockets. Whether the streets of Paris or a cathedral in Russia, this behavior gets you robbed. I guarantee it, like taking candy from a baby. How do you avoid this, besides stuffing money in your shoe, traveling in groups and being aware, and not wearing American shoes? Blend in, protect yourself, watch where you go, what you say, etc etc.-
OK, what does this have do with with pot and getting arrested? Like in the jungle, blending in with your surroundings is essential for survival. The same rule applies right here in the US and even more so as medical cannabis users, who are more often than not thought of as drug users. Changing your clothing, hair, body language, and speech does not change who you are inside. If we all have to come across as the Cleavers and bake cookies to win this war, then do it. If you won't do it to protect your own ass, please do it for all the others are fighting the battles to make legal medical cannabis use nationwide.-
Until this War on Drugs nonsense is behind us, it still is a war and many Americans consider MMJ users as the opponent. Never forget this!-
))) My only local dispensary was raided and closed last year. They had been under surveillance for 9 months and knew about the guy in the car outside. They hired lawyers and made sure everything was by the book. The owner was a kind genuine woman that would run things to my house when I couldn't get a ride. -I was there in the dispensary the day the police under covers came in.
It's all about how a person carries themselves and how they are extra aware that got my attention. Two guys came in with legit cards, signed up, went into the bud area. The one in charge laid out $200 bucks, fresh from a bank envelope, then said "How high can I get for $200?" He was strong, muscular, handsome, confident, cocky, and had dark glasses on inside. The other guy never spoke and was doing the looking around. He was so average looking, I only remember the slight frame and mouse colored hair. He was new, why wasn't he buying anything? No one is allowed in the back without a card and membership. If you need pushed about in a wheel chair, the employees take over -the pushing while the others sit outside with magazines to read. I wasn't the only one with warning bells going off in my head. You could have heard a pin drop! The other patients all left. I was buying my edibles and tried to help the two young ladies behind the counter. I went with laughter to cover unease... Told the jerk (nicely) he had the wrong place to get high, go buy from the street at lower prices if that's all he cared about. (silence with cocky grin was the response) he was very focused on the employees, in a weird way. Other guy was in the cornea, back to the wall. I went on, that nothing makes me high, I fall asleep before that happens. (true) I took him over to the fridge and pointed out a few good edibles and handed him bottle of lemonade. I kept talking and said this drink helped my more quickly than the edibles, but longer than buds and concentrates. I pointed out dome $20 toffee bars on sale for $5 and he didn't take one! How can someone with their first med card and no idea of what to get pass by a deal like that? I then added, i'm allergic to smoke and even thick vapors, but for pain edibles were the best. Was this his first time? Did he have a vaporizer? What did he need it for? (still no reply on that) I had hoped if I was annoying enough, he would leave and return some other day, and be recognized. Ya can't do eye contact with dark sunglasses. :-( Neither man was looking in the display case, or asking questions. The mousey one never spoke. What I should have done was purposely fall. I have my roll down from many accidents and it would have shown me his reflexes, and one of them would likely help me outside and split up, break the scam. I failed and left.
The next day, they raided the place, before it was even open! The landlord was there with a key to let the, inside, but oh no..... They drove into the store front glass window and went in that way while the owner and landlord stood outside. It's all hear-say, but the window was gone when I looked later. If it was a raid, why was the landlord present with a key? They threw the owner in jail and took everything they could and destroyed what could be carried. Why was there money inside from the previous day, thousands of dollars? All buds, money gear... All destroyed. I attended a legal meeting there a month before and heard the stories. The ending to this one will be years from now. The owner was accused of owning another store with the same name in another town. Is that illegal? In reality, she does not own another place and there is no other dispensary by the same same in CA. They claimed the employees were underage and serving underage patients. BS . They women look young, but are over 21. I never saw a stoned employee. I spent many hours lounging on the sofa, listening and watching while I waited for a ride home. There's nothing like that going on. They claimed the place sold to an undercover. The men had legit cards and checked out. It's illegal not to allow them in! They should go after the doctor that took their money and gave them cards when they had nothing wrong with them! My guess, they get no money arresting a doctor who is crooked. Maybe in a few years, I can add the ending here. :-(
I now understand why people legally using MMj have to hide like criminals. You get fired from your job with MMj. You get denied medical care and medication when you fail the pee test, and are treated the same as drug users. You get robbed, become a target for cops and crooks. You get treated like a drug addict! I've made it through life never trying an illegal substance of any sort, not even pot. Tried that legally in Amsterdam. Lol The number one problem I see over and over is simple to correct. If you dress, act, speak like a stoner or pot head, expect to be treated as one. Hippy clothes, the scraggly goatee, the manner of speech and choice in words... This in not hip or cool, it's foolish and degrading. The bloodshot dilated eyes in the middle of day are obvious. The gangster lingo out of a grown man is asking for trouble. If I spot these people in a crowd, anyone else can. Is it so hard not to speak normal English and wear normal clothing, to blend in and not draw negative attention to yourself? -People acting like this are giving medical cannabis a bad rep and hurting other people in the process. A scraggily group of picketers in from of the court house brings negative attention from those passing by, including jurors. We desperately need to blend in with the average American and treat medical cannabis as a medication. How can we expect for the everyday average Joe to take medical canna seriously if -we don't?-
Think, of it like this.... If you travel to another country and take a stroll down the street while wearing obvious American clothing, gawking, speaking loudly and insultingly in English, thinking no one around you knows what your saying, wearing head phone, or yapping on the phone... You become an easy target and will be approached and followed until the opportunity arises to lighten your pockets. Whether the streets of Paris or a cathedral in Russia, this behavior gets you robbed. I guarantee it, like taking candy from a baby. How do you avoid this, besides stuffing money in your shoe, traveling in groups and being aware, and not wearing American shoes? Blend in, protect yourself, watch where you go, what you say, etc etc.-
OK, what does this have do with with pot and getting arrested? Like in the jungle, blending in with your surroundings is essential for survival. The same rule applies right here in the US and even more so as medical cannabis users, who are more often than not thought of as drug users. Changing your clothing, hair, body language, and speech does not change who you are inside. If we all have to come across as the Cleavers and bake cookies to win this war, then do it. If you won't do it to protect your own ass, please do it for all the others are fighting the battles to make legal medical cannabis use nationwide.-
Until this War on Drugs nonsense is behind us, it still is a war and many Americans consider MMJ users as the opponent. Never forget this!-
