Federal Marshals Raid Legal Medical Marijuana Shop In Texas: Why The Big Guns? Advocates Say 'It's Absurd'

Green Goddess Revival, a medical marijuana dispensary in Denton Texas, was the target of a law enforcement raid on Thursday in which $10,000 in products were seized, business owners said. A warrant to search stated it was targeting noncompliant THC products. Denton is among several Texas towns that will vote this November to approve adult-use cannabis.

Photos posted on social media depicted Denton County Sheriff’s Office personnel, one of whom was wearing a U.S. Marshals Service Joint East Texas Fugitive Task Force vest.

"It is absurd to see US Marshalls Fugitive Task Force raiding a hemp shop in Denton, Texas in 2024," wrote the Texas Cannabis Collective on X.

It is absurd to see US Marshalls Fugitive Task Force raiding a hemp shop in Denton, Texas in 2024 pic.twitter.com/XPMrZ6mvhR

— Texas Cannabis Collective (@txcannaco) September 14, 2024

"People literally come in everyday almost in years because we provide them with medicine that gives them their life back. We’re a local shop that gives product to people for almost nothing if needed and has supported the community for years," continued the Cannabis Collective. Texas approved a limited medical marijuana program in 2015.

Read Also: 73% Of Texans Support Full Cannabis Legalization Or Decriminalization, Including Plurality Of Republicans, Poll Finds

What Happened: Store manager Jack Howell told the Denton Record-Chronicle Friday that the officers told him they'd received a complaint about someone smoking weed outside the shop. Howell questioned the legitimacy of the officers' statement, saying that a now-former employee was smoking a joint outside the shop when plainclothes officers approached her and asked to search the shop. She said no and was arrested on an unrelated outstanding warrant.

License And Paperwork All In Order

Howell said the Green Goddess Revival's paperwork was in order to prove that products contained less than 0.3% of THC, which is permissible in Texas and meets the standards for medical marijuana.

An officer of the Eastern District of Texas denied that an officer in the photo was a member of the federal task force but was not operating in that capacity when they raided the legal medical marijuana shop.

Then There’s Texas AG Ken Paxton

Meanwhile, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton launched lawsuits over voter-approved marijuana decriminalization initiatives underway in five Texas towns, some of which have been thrown out by judges. Denton, population 150,000, is among those towns. Paxton argues that these local initiatives violate state law are unconstitutional and that the five mostly small cities are being run by “criminal extremists.”

Now Read:

• Cannabis Use Is Up Among Older Adults For Wellbeing, Health Purposes: Poll

Photo: Texas Cannabis Collective