Why Are Feds Targeting High-End Pot Producers in California?

James Slatic isn't a drug dealer. The owner of Med-West Distributors in San Diego was a successful entrepreneur in California's legalized medical marijuana industry, refining cannabis extractions and providing them to nine local dispensaries. His business was housed in a 14,000-square-foot industrial property that the company owned and which the city had inspected; he says his workers had employer-matched 401(k) retirement accounts and health insurance, and that he spent thousands of dollars to have his products tested by a city-licensed lab.

But then on the morning of January 28th, nearly 30 armored law enforcement officers from the San Diego Police Department and the Drug Enforcement Agency used a sledgehammer to break down the door of his facility, arresting his employees and impounding both the medicine destined for the licensed dispensaries and just over $325,000 in cash. The next day, law enforcement froze the personal bank accounts of Slatic, his wife...

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