Spokane7
58°
September 15, 2010 in City
Medical marijuana dispensary owner faces drug charges
Detectives say business violates law
Paul Ellis sold medical marijuana from this Spokane Valley strip mall until he was busted by the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office recently. In the window is reflected a Washington State Patrol office.
(Full-size photo)
A Greenacres man who operated a medical marijuana dispensary about 100 feet from a Washington State Patrol office could face felony drug charges in the latest example of Spokane County’s tough stance on the confusing voter-approved law.
Paul E. Ellis, 52, was described by detectives as eager and talkative when they approached him at his dispensary, Med Mar Dis, at 7604 E. Sprague Ave., last month. He showed them his marijuana, explained how he tracks his transactions with about 200 customers and invited them to his home to see his marijuana crop.
The detectives accepted his invitation – then contacted Spokane County Deputy Prosecutor John Grasso, who has long argued that anyone distributing medical marijuana to more than one patient is violating state law. Marijuana advocates disagree.
A Spokane County Sheriff’s Office team searched Ellis’ home and business this month and seized fresh marijuana, seeds and 179 marijuana plants. He was not arrested but could face drug charges. His case is being reviewed by the prosecutor’s office.
Ellis declined to comment when a reporter stopped by his home Tuesday afternoon, but detectives said he was so eager to tell them about his business in August that it was difficult to keep him “on one topic at a time due his talkativeness,” according to a search warrant.
According to the warrant, Ellis asked Washington State Patrol Sgt. Dave Bolton last spring if he could use state labs to test his marijuana for contaminants.
Bolton already was familiar with the business – he’d notified the Sheriff’s Office after it opened across from his office on East Sprague Avenue. He’d been monitoring activity there since late December, but sheriff’s officials said prosecutors were waiting for the resolution of criminal charges brought against two dispensary owners in Spokane last summer.
Then in early August, Spokane Valley Police Chief Rick Van Leuven told Sgt. Brett Gores of several complaints from citizens about Ellis’ business. Detectives stopped by the dispensary on Aug. 9 and met with Ellis, who “told us in great detail how he just wanted to help people and other dispensaries in towns were crooks and should not be allowed to operate,” according to the search warrant.
Detectives counted 211 customers in his business records. Ellis said he makes about $200 to $500 per day selling marijuana and said he hoped to get a large warehouse to grow and sell marijuana, according to the search warrant.
Ellis also repeatedly invited the detectives to his home to see his marijuana plants. They counted about 220 when they arrived at 18925 E. Riverside Ave. on Aug. 10. A team from the Sheriff’s Office raided the home and dispensary on Sept. 2.
Local police and prosecutors consider anyone distributing marijuana to more than one authorized patient to be violating Washington’s voter-approved law, which allows for distribution to one person “at any one time.”
Dispensary operators in Spokane say the law allows for them to distribute to as many people as they want so long as transactions are separate.
Ellis’ case is similar to that of the Spokane medical marijuana dispensary Change. A Spokane Police Department investigation began when a drug detective saw a TV news report in which dispensary owner Scott Q. Shupe said “that he grows, possesses and sells marijuana and that ‘it’s all perfectly legal,’ ” according to court documents.
Shupe and dispensary co-owner Christopher P. Stevens were arrested after a police raid in September 2009.
Both are charged with felony distribution of a controlled substance in a case Spokane police said they hope will clarify the state’s medical marijuana laws. Their trials are scheduled to begin Sept. 27.
Human trafficking suspects released 
Scoutster on September 15 at 6:11 a.m.
Oh, Puhleeeez!
The voters have spoken on this issue. If the police and prosecutors can’t figure out how it works, its not on the citizenry to pay the price for their learning curve.
Get a life.
SpokaneLiberal on September 15 at 6:46 a.m.
The voters certainly didn’t approve an initiative with the intent of making it legal but impossible to get through legal means. Come on Spokane PD. Stop shooting people, doing speed traps, and hurting legit businesses and investigate real crimes. Like assault, and shooting preachers, and gangs.
misjustice on September 15 at 6:55 a.m.
Seems as if SPD is hell bent on arresting users and growers of medical marijuana; even though they are not a danger to the populace at large. Brilliant!
And the next time that one of us suffers a property loss we can just forget about any police response; they’re too busy arresting cancer patients for possessing/using pot!
Scoutster on September 15 at 7:03 a.m.
All you bleeding heart liberals like misjustice, crying about the police enforcement of drug laws.
You make me sick! You don’t want the police involved in drug arrests, and then, the first time YOU need drugs, you go to the off-duty cops because you know they have the good sh*t and they don’t get tested.
misjustice on September 15 at 7:15 a.m.
AWW, Scoutster, you outed me! ; )
Keep it lit!
lewis8457 on September 15 at 7:29 a.m.
More wasted money for something the guy will get off on, because he did follow law. Now watch folks the SPD will bust the in city dispensaries. To show they are bad Asses, whoopee ding.
This is the exact reason I have not got my card yet; you can bet they have been following the patients. My state says I can smoke it if my doctor Ok’s it but my local cops say if I don’t buy from them I don’t buy from anyone.
They say they are protecting us from the evil weed while they gun down preachers that the cop watch kiddie porn on his county issued laptop.
JBlim on September 15 at 7:31 a.m.
Somebody’s been listening to MM;)
Why don’t the cops go after REAL criminals instead of wasting taxpayers’ money and time with this nonsense?
misjustice on September 15 at 7:36 a.m.
When weed is criminalized only criminals will have weed!
Scoutster on September 15 at 7:40 a.m.
JBlim..
You know, that is a good question. I’m guessing it has something to do with the funding the Feds give the SPD or the state to be working the War on Drugs (btw, we “lost” a long time ago).
It’s the Interdiction Industrial Complex, and it is now strong enough that it makes it own weather. There is no rationality to our drug laws anymore. Just layer after layer of federally supported, lobbyist dictated programs, each with a pot of money and each being chased by local law enforcement to receive more funding to feed the beast.
Don’t follow the drugs, follow the money.
misjustice on September 15 at 7:55 a.m.
The DOJ revised its policy on busting pot users/dispensaries…
“Prosecutors will be told it is not a good use of their time to arrest people who use or provide medical marijuana in strict compliance with state laws. The policy is a significant departure from the Bush administration, which insisted it would continue to enforce federal anti-pot laws regardless of state codes.”
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/federal-eye/2009/10/eye_opener_oct_19_2009.html
So, the Feds aren’t interested in busting the petty, small time user or dispensary, but obviously, the local agencies are.
My guess is that the SPD, and other local “law enforcement” is using the argument that users/dispensaries are NOT in STRICT compliance with state law; and use ambiguity to bust pot users/dispensaries. It will be up to the defendants to challenge their arrests and to ask the State Legislature or State Courts for clarification.
johno on September 15 at 9:09 a.m.
I think this is a waste of limited criminal justice resources. Spokane PD, please concentrate your efforts on other crimes!
spokanecougar on September 15 at 9:28 a.m.
What a waste of my taxes. So tired that the retarded Spokane Police and Sheriff think they are somehow better than the rest of the state and keep busting all these medical marijuana shops. Sorry stupid police, we voted and approved this, you might now like it but the citizens of this state have spoken….MOVE ON. Spend your time and our tax money going after the real criminals. Last I checked people are still being killed, raped and beaten in Spokane. Amazing all these law enforcement agencies complain about having no money at all and then do stupid crap like this.
Wonder if our corrupt sheriff is doing this to try and get some attention off his deputy who murdered an innocent man in cold blood.
andjusticeforall on September 15 at 10:28 a.m.
theres a meth house up the street from me off havana & market , when you drive by it reeks of the stuff….right next to a cop shop might i add….where the HELL are the cops to bust them…o yea wasting out tax $$ busting someone who grows plants..thanks SPD
Thoreau on September 15 at 12:19 p.m.
GOOD LORD! Man, I hope the cops take down the rest of these places….you know, like Walgreens, Sav-On, CVS. Those are places where people with prescriptions could take too much Vicadin, Prozac, antibiotics…. and DIE. But, wait - one cannot overdose on marijuana, which is a completely natural, untainted, non-manufactured PLANT that has been around longer than we have. It’s incomprehensible how we can criminalize and demonize marijuana, yet allow numerous other substances containing chemically-altered properties which can sicken or kill people. We allow poisonous plants to live in our world, unmolested (poison oak, etc.) yet we spend million$ on the eradication of marijuana.
Ed Byrnes on September 15 at 12:46 p.m.
Cannabis is a relatively benign substance that actually poses less of a threat to public safety than alcohol or other drugs do.
The citizens of Washington have spoken about this issue yet local law enforcement continues to ignore our voice legitimized as state law.
Nearly 200,000 Washingtonians signed a petition to remove all criminal and civil penalties for cannabis this spring.
A bill to control, tax and regulate cannabis was prevented from coming out of the Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Committee of the legislature by one person, the committee chair with deep ties to law enforcement.
It is far safer to bust stoners than to solve crimes that do tangible harm to our community. It is also a waste of law enforcement, court and corrections resources.
The unfortunate thing about this incident is that it further erodes the credibility of local enforcement among us citizens.
The government has no compelling interest in controlling the benign private behavior of it’s citizens, which is what our cannabis laws do.
Let’s stay aware of citizen and legislative initiatives to restore our cannabis rights and actively support them.
spokanecommunistparty on September 15 at 2:17 p.m.
Steven J. fTucker who is Spokane County Prosecuting Attorney apointed Spokane County Deputy Prosecutor John Grasso. Therefore Steven J. Tucker must be voted out in order to remove John Grasso - who is responsible for all these dispensary raids. Remember these names on voting day Spokane! Lets get with times and -fight! fight! fight!- the dinosaurs who are in charge.
Thoreau on September 15 at 4:00 p.m.
HA!!! The irony : John GRASSo is raiding these places….
Twinmom on September 15 at 11:32 p.m.
I for one am outraged at the waste of law enforcement resources. The community here clearly seems to agree with the law that we the people voted on. As a parent, I am far more concerned about the people who deal drugs without a storefront than legal dispensaries. If we don’t have the funds to investigate property crimes, how do we have the funds to “keep an eye on” medical dispensaries that are operating within the law? Sounds like the owner offered full and complete cooperation. Is that what the SPD gets from the gangs?
misjustice on September 16 at 7:50 a.m.
Twinmom; we don’t have the funds to investigate property crimes because they don’t generate revenue.
Police will only go after revenue generating “crimes”. No doubt they “siezed” the dispensary operator’s property [including the weed], his bank accounts will be taken, as well as any real property such as his house, car, etc…
Ed Byrnes on September 16 at 2:30 p.m.
misjustice nails it again!
Forfeiture rules around are an incentive for agencies to pursue our fellow responsible citizens. I worked on an interdiction initiative in another jursidiction where forfeiture incentives were routinely discussed openly and shamelessly.
H.L. Mencken succinctly summed it up nearly a century ago: “Every decent man is ashamed of the government he lives under.”