The Obama administration racked up another big victory in the war on drugs yesterday when U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents, backed by Costa Mesa police and fire units, raided the Bayside Patients Association. That's right, everyone: the Mexican cartels have been disarmed, the last decapitation video has been filmed, nobody uses meth anymore, so finally the DEA is free to go after the real enemy: cannabis collectives so brazen in their criminality that they have signs out front telling the police how to find them–even hours of operation posted in plain view!
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Late yesterday morning, a van full of DEA agents accompanied by squad cars and fire trucks descended on the Bayside dispensary at 19th St. and Newport Blvd. The raid reportedly took place one day after the deadline expired to voluntarily shut down in response to a letter sent to every collective in town following similar raids in January. According to the Daily Pilot, three people were arrested, ten pounds of marijuana confiscated, and a safe containing cash was hauled onto the sidewalk and sawed open. Although the DP claims photos of the safe-cracking operation were posted on the firefighter's association Facebook page, the most recent posting appears to be from the day before the raid and no such photos could be found today.
Award-winning investigative journalist Nick Schou is Editor of OC Weekly. He is the author of Kill the Messenger: How the CIA’s Crack Cocaine Controversy Destroyed Journalist Gary Webb (Nation Books 2006), which provided the basis for the 2014 Focus Features release starring Jeremy Renner and the L.A. Times-bestseller Orange Sunshine: The Brotherhood of Eternal Love’s Quest to bring Peace, Love and Acid to the World, (Thomas Dunne 2009). He is also the author of The Weed Runners (2013) and Spooked: How the CIA Manipulates the Media and Hoodwinks Hollywood (2016).