| Photo: The Last Free Voice |
| This was the scene left by DEA agents after the 2008 raid at Organica. The collective was raided again in 2009 and again Thursday. |
Drug Enforcement Administration spokeswoman Sarah Pullen has confirmed the DEA is serving warrants at Organica Collective, a marijuana dispensary in Culver City, California.
Culver City police also participated in the raid, reports Amina Khan at the Los Angeles Times.
Witnesses saw several officers and cars congregating around 10 a.m. Thursday around Organica Collective at 13456 Washington Boulevard.
At least three people were detained, according to witness Erin Olf, officer manager at Rainbow Acres Natural Foods, a neighboring business. Olf said she saw the three handcuffed and standing in front of a graffiti-covered storage truck.
DEA spokeswoman Pullen claimed she could not confirm whether any arrests have been made.
Organica Collective has been raided at least twice by the DEA in the past.
In August 2008, federal agents raided Organica, tearing through furniture, cabinets, cash drawers and an outdoor garden “in search of evidence.”
DEA agents executed their vigorous search for money, records, and cannabis as angry Organica employees looked on. No arrests were made in the 2008 raid.
Organica was raided again in August 2009, along with the Overland Gardens Collective in West Los Angeles. DEA agents said they seized about 100 pounds of marijuana, about 200 live plants and about $100,000 in cash. Agents during the raid also shot and wounded a pit bull who was a guard dog at one of the dispensaries.
According to DEA spokesman Jose Martinez, the owner of both dispensaries, Jeffrey Joseph, 50, was arrested at his home in Topanga Canyon, which was also ransacked after the 2009 dispensary raids.