Carbondale dispensary shut down, owner arrested

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The state’s Medical Marijuana Enforcement Division (MMED)
announced today that it worked with a Garfield County drug enforcement team to
shut down a dispensary in Carbondale suspected of selling drugs illegally.

According to an MMED press release, the division partnered
with the Two Rivers Drug Enforcement Team based in Glenwood Springs to
investigate the Mother Earth Medical Marijuana Center “after receiving
information that the center sold to individuals without the statutorily
required documentation and was selling or offering to sell illegal drugs. … The
operation yielded evidence of an illegal medical marijuana purchase and the
sale of suspected cocaine to an undercover officer.”

According to the MMED, the dispensary owner was arrested,
and the dispensary was shut down.

“Further investigation into other individuals that may be
involved is ongoing, and additional arrests may be made as a result of this
joint operation,” the release says. “Today is an example of how the MMED
provides a valuable resource for other law enforcement agencies by partnering
with them to provide both agencies with increased manpower and institutional
knowledge to stop illegal activity within Colorado’s medical marijuana industry
and our state.”

In a prepared statement, MMED Director Dan Hartman added,
“While the MMED is currently working to educate members of the medical marijuana
industry and bring them into compliance with current statute and rule, we will
not hesitate to take immediate action when we are made aware of blatant illegal
activity.”

The MMED news release says the crackdown on the Carbondale
dispensary “helps validate the large majority of medical marijuana business
owners that work hard to operate within our state’s regulatory scheme. These
small business owners have spent a great deal of time and money to do so and
are directly impacted by businesses not interested in compliance.”