Colorado Medical Pot Dispensary Robbed at Gunpoint

By Jeralyn, Section Crime in the News
Posted on Tue Jun 16, 2009 at 09:14:36 PM EST
Tags: medical marijuana (all tags)

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Update: The police have arrested the four men in the Escalade.

Colorado experienced its first major medical marijuana dispensary robbery today. New Options Wellness in Boulder was robbed at gunpoint around this afternoon. There were no injuries but everything was taken. [More...]

Boulder Police say it started around 3:30 p.m. when two black men walked into the New Options Wellness Center, LLC, in the 2800 block of E. Aurora Ave., and told the clerk they were customers. When the clerk asked them to show their medical marijuana card, police say the men instead told the clerk they were there to rob her.

Although they didn't show a weapon, they did get away with cash and two 20-gallon tubs of marijuana, according to authorities.

The suspects left in a Black Cadillac Escalade, which was followed and stopped by police.

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Colorado Medical Pot Dispensary Robbed at Gunpoint | 29 comments (29 topical)

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I'm amazed... (5.00 / 1) (#13)
by kdog on Wed Jun 17, 2009 at 07:53:40 AM EST

this doesn't happen more often...it's gonna be a problem for dispensaries until all use of reefer is legalized...prohibition keeps the price so high that reefer is like catnip for thieves...as good as stealing gold and a helluva lot easier to unload.

But at least these dealers get to call the cops when they get robbed...thats pretty cool.

You think so? (none / 0) (#14)
by Inspector Gadget on Wed Jun 17, 2009 at 09:09:23 AM EST

Don't liquor stores and pharmacies still get robbed?

[ Parent ]

For sure... (none / 0) (#17)
by kdog on Wed Jun 17, 2009 at 09:51:17 AM EST

pharmacies quite a bit in part because of our prescription "permission slip" system sending the street price of painkillers and such sky-high.

Anyplace with a cash register and/or high-value inventory is at a higher risk of thievery...but you notice that when a liquor store gets robbed, it is usually just for the cash, and not cases of Jose Cuervo...if Cuervo was illegal and went for a hundo a bottle on the street, then I think you would see people holding up liquor stores even more, for the inventory.

[ Parent ]

My friend owns a wine store. (none / 0) (#19)
by sarcastic unnamed one on Wed Jun 17, 2009 at 11:32:32 AM EST

He says bottles of Cristal and Opus One, etc., "grew legs" so many times he's now got them locked up. So far, anyway, no one's ever tried to rob the cash register...

[ Parent ]

Shoplifting... (none / 0) (#20)
by kdog on Wed Jun 17, 2009 at 11:40:33 AM EST

is a problem no matter what you sell...a far cry from armed robbery though.

[ Parent ]

: Fair point. (none / 0) (#21)
by sarcastic unnamed one on Wed Jun 17, 2009 at 11:41:28 AM EST

[ Parent ]

Most long-time Boulderites... (none / 0) (#15)
by MileHi Hawkeye on Wed Jun 17, 2009 at 09:31:33 AM EST

...I've talked to about this with today weren't even aware that this clinic existed. Leads me to wonder if this wasn't a case of someone trying to weed out the competition, so to speak.

After all, the college market up there is a very profitable one.

[ Parent ]

: Very possible... (none / 0) (#16)
by kdog on Wed Jun 17, 2009 at 09:44:42 AM EST

that makes a lot of sense Mile.

[ Parent ]

My first thought as well. (none / 0) (#18)
by jen on Wed Jun 17, 2009 at 10:06:30 AM EST

Surprised it hasn't happened sooner and more often.

[ Parent ]

It happens (none / 0) (#26)
by Patrick on Wed Jun 17, 2009 at 06:25:36 PM EST

all the time in my sunny little burg. I've personally been involved in no less than 5 murders related to MJ ripoffs and I can't count the number of robberies and home invasions.

[ Parent ]

and? (none / 0) (#1)
by cpinva on Tue Jun 16, 2009 at 09:42:15 PM EST

were arrests made and stolen items recovered? people want to know! :)

glad no one was hurt though.

: No word yet (none / 0) (#3)
by CoralGables on Tue Jun 16, 2009 at 09:53:05 PM EST

on what was recovered or found in their possession (no pun intended). The report is only that that the persons of interest are being questioned.

[ Parent ]

Priceless (none / 0) (#2)
by kidneystones on Tue Jun 16, 2009 at 09:46:48 PM EST

Cops dispatched to recover the stolen dope. What a phenomenal waste of time, energy, and money spent on and by 'bong' nation.

Read more closely (5.00 / 0) (#7)
by magster on Tue Jun 16, 2009 at 11:30:08 PM EST

It was an armed robbery. People could have died.

[ Parent ]

People Do Die (none / 0) (#22)
by kidneystones on Wed Jun 17, 2009 at 12:09:31 PM EST

Every day in robberies.

Nodody died here.

Dope smokers in America pay terrorists and torturers and corrupt army and police officers in several nations every time they buy dope shipped by cartels. That makes them accessories, in the moral, if not the strictly legal sense.

Nothing, however, must interfere with bong nation's god-given right to get high, and if that means buying dope from torturers that's exactly what bong nation is going to do.

I wonder how many Mexicans got beaten, terrorized, or murdered today so Americans can get their daily quota.

Cause violence and the potential for violence matters a lot to bong nation. Right?

All that death and pain is just part of the price other folks get to pay so bong nation can stay high.

[ Parent ]

Damn right... (5.00 / 3) (#23)
by kdog on Wed Jun 17, 2009 at 01:50:06 PM EST

it is my god-given right to get high...an inalienable god-given right.

Prohibition is the accessory to death, pain, and misery...not me babe...take it up with the prohibitionists and tyrants.

[ Parent ]

Total moral and intellectual bankruptcy (none / 0) (#25)
by kidneystones on Wed Jun 17, 2009 at 06:11:28 PM EST

Your loathsome effort to link cash payments to murderers and torturers to 'freedom' and 'independence' is absolutely disgusting.

I can't justify shaking hands with a torturer or sitting in the same room with a terrorist, but here you are 'explaining' to us that there's actually nothing at all wrong with handing cash over to folks who rape, kill, and maim. WTF?

Your 'godgiven right to get high' is entirely separable from the unforgivable and indefensible practice of engaging in commerce with individuals any sane person would demand to see locked-up, at the very least.

Or do you go further and see the murderers and torturers as heroes of some kind? Really, I'd like to know. There are plenty of ways for the inventive to get messed-up that do not involve forking over money to cartels.

You're either unaware of the distinction between getting high and trafficking with torturers and terrorists; or simply don't care.

Truly pathetic.

[ Parent ]

Oh boy, here we go.... (5.00 / 1) (#27)
by kdog on Wed Jun 17, 2009 at 08:00:05 PM EST

I give my cash to poor slobs like myself trying to make a living...not a rapist, terrorist, or murderer among them I assure you...total sweethearts actually.

Who they give that money too is anybodys guess...not polite to ask in my culture. But I'll admit the further up the distribution chain ya go the greater the chance you'll meet a sc*mbag...and I do care, which is why I want drugs legalized so the sc*mbags are out of business...replaced by respectable businesses that may or may not employ sc*mbags:)

Though I must say there are fine, stand up outlaws with a moral code growing dope...and they are heroes in my book, you bet your arse.

The taxes I pay to torturers and imprisoners and tyrants in our government is infinitely harder on my conscience...if you want to be outraged about funding evil, that is where I'd start.

And yes, I'm aware that there should and would be no connection between getting high and funding gangsters, were it not for prohibition. Lets break that connection...and the one between paying taxes and funding gangsters while we're at it.

I ain't letting the law detract from my pursuit of hapiness, which harms no one and has no inherent reason to fund the harm of others...if that makes me selfish so be it. If I could change the law I would...I try and fail at the ballot box, but disobeying the law is within my power, and my conscience says it is just. If your conscience says prohibition and "rules are rules"...well, I couldn't disagree more my friend, I find that pathetic.

[ Parent ]

You make a good point (none / 0) (#28)
by kidneystones on Wed Jun 17, 2009 at 08:35:47 PM EST

about sending tax dollars to nations that do torture. That's pretty much out of your hands as you point out, except at the ballot box.

After that your arguments completely collapse. Cartels are the question and torturing cartels are the folks you're doing business with. You give yourself a free pass on both counts.

Torturers, murderers and terrorists in the cartels are destroying the social fabric of Mexico and of millions of impoverished folks around the globe. Don't blame the folks funding their activity, though. Nothing to do with us.

You exercise choice every time you buy dope. You could pursue your need/desire/right/dependency in any number of ways. You strongly believe drugs should be legalized. Until then, you're going to continue to do business with the torturers and murderers.

Cool.

[ Parent ]

: Again.... (none / 0) (#29)
by kdog on Thu Jun 18, 2009 at 08:14:58 AM EST

I do business with sweethearts...for all I know they get their product from stand-up outlaws...I don't buy denny so the odds are slim I'm supplying the mexican cartels with a dime. More likely a Canadian or domestic operation.
Do you ask your grocer where he buys his eggs and milk? Or better yet, do you ask Walmart which sweatshop they buy their plastic pieces of crap from? Point being the vast majority of us fund some kind of evil indirectly...I don't know what you can do about it outside living off the land 100%.

[ Parent ]

Not for nothing (none / 0) (#24)
by sarcastic unnamed one on Wed Jun 17, 2009 at 02:57:07 PM EST

but here is a fair amount of drug usage in Mexico too...

[ Parent ]

I'm not a lawyer, but.... (none / 0) (#4)
by EL seattle on Tue Jun 16, 2009 at 10:03:50 PM EST

... I am curious as to whether the phrase -

Robbed at Gunpoint

matches up in a legal sense with -

Although they didn't show a weapon

: Yes (none / 0) (#12)
by jbindc on Wed Jun 17, 2009 at 07:18:07 AM EST

Depending on state law, a person can be convicted of armed robbery (or aggravated assault) if the victim believes there was a weapon involved, regardless if the criminal actually had a weapon.
For example, in Michigan, the penal code reads like this:

750.529 Use or possession of dangerous weapon; aggravated assault; penalty.
Sec. 529.
A person who engages in conduct proscribed under section 530 and who in the course of engaging in that conduct, possesses a dangerous weapon or an article used or fashioned in a manner to lead any person present to reasonably believe the article is a dangerous weapon, or who represents orally or otherwise that he or she is in possession of a dangerous weapon, is guilty of a felony punishable by imprisonment for life or for any term of years. If an aggravated assault or serious injury is inflicted by any person while violating this section, the person shall be sentenced to a minimum term of imprisonment of not less than 2 years.

[ Parent ]

Just have to ask (none / 0) (#5)
by The Addams Family on Tue Jun 16, 2009 at 10:26:01 PM EST

whether the source in question would have reported that the incident "started around 3:30 p.m. when two white men walked into the New Options Wellness Center."

: I think they generally do until they (none / 0) (#8)
by nycstray on Tue Jun 16, 2009 at 11:36:39 PM EST

have them in custody. Notice the later report posted below does not mention race.

[ Parent ]

Boulder police arrested four men today (none / 0) (#6)
by sarcastic unnamed one on Tue Jun 16, 2009 at 10:35:51 PM EST

Boulder police arrested four men today in connection with the robbery of a clinic that dispenses medical marijuana.
New Options Wellness Clinic in the 2800 block of East Aurora Avenue was robbed at about 3:30 p.m.
Two robbers entered the clinic and first pretended to be registered medical marijuana users, police said. Then they stole two tubs of medical marijuana, cash and some surveillance equipment, Boulder police said.
Witnesses saw the men leave in a black Cadillac Escalade sport-utility vehicle and provided officers with a license plate number.
A police sergeant in an unmarked vehicle followed the SUV on U.S. 36, until patrol cruisers pulled the Escalade over near the Church Ranch Boulevard exit and arrested the four men inside.
The men were still being questioned at 8 p.m.Police spokeswoman Sarah Huntley said the department would not release their names or other details until Wednesday.

Four men w/glaucoma? (none / 0) (#9)
by oculus on Wed Jun 17, 2009 at 05:17:18 AM EST

Having a tough time (none / 0) (#10)
by joze46 on Wed Jun 17, 2009 at 06:01:58 AM EST

For me the curiosity of just the term "Medical Marijuana" with its proliferation, as in Colorado which I did not know existed, is telling part of a long story. Just where is this medical stuff going with the term Medical Marijuana? More over sometimes my reflection on that region of what is called the Fertile Crescent has all to do with the even more powerful plant of opium, In Iraq and Iran, rather than being what some history books used to call the bread basket of the Middle East is the key player of what many consider the most powerful drug related plant on our planet.

My take on this stuff. Ever since I returned from Vietnam, in the early seventies, being subjected to the cannabis that proliferated in this part of Asia, a vision was reasonable to perceive that one day this plant, drug, or medicine if you want to call it, could be ingested via smoking or eaten would some how wind up being completive with alcohol or wine through out America. With that said one can vision after indulging the natural relation to any divine relations because of the sensory extensions or expansions.

For me largely laughing about stuff was easy because my personality could penetrate that same inner thought Bush could of had looking into Putin's eyes and determine how honest he was. Though even now after decades of not being "High" I could see Putin is not an honest man. So that magic divine inertial couple can be very different for each individual.

Any way my point is, we in America with this medical stuff are on the way to legalization. There probably is little to stop it. My perception is it has been plan to be as smooth as possible by both parties timed for slow introduction as mild as possible as not to be able to blame either party for supposed dangers involved... Sometime I believe thats why we have a huge Mexican alien population. It is rigged for the distribution. One can read about hundreds of networked cities does not happen instantly.

This whole theater is engaged with complicity with the educational system, the arts, political connections and the media as effective as the huge media censorship. Especially of the Trilateral Commission initialized and started by the Rockefeller family in the seventies, a huge Democratic and Republic partisan cabal.

After queuing up this stuff about the Trilateral Commission on the Internet my perception being sober now point directly to a huge economic war which is in progress right now. How and what it is I am not sure but those players are the polished money managers, Journalist, political long timers, corporate creeps are integral members in a titan money clash. They are slinging our tax money around, yet have enough that has been sacked from the treasury to finance just about any public recovery. As exampled by MSNBC as a leading perpetrator "Or Traitor to American labor "even with its compelling reporting of wide spread corruption it hosts a daily media blitz daily with well connected corruption including a fondness for labor which is in the long run to keep labor cheap, or move where it is cheap.

All done and after realized how screwed up things are the needed medication is happening whether we like it or not. My prediction is suffering is going to be a trend that is out of control because of the simple dialog and debate of torture and water boarding if that is considered legal our children will wind up doing it to each other. a cool win for the Wahabbi.

So if we go Medical Marijuana, at least please reject water boarding or all forms of torture becuase the Middle East this part of the world was the most significant recorded birth place of slavery and torture and oppression having a tough time breaking a way from it.

: You mean you typed that (none / 0) (#11)
by Bemused on Wed Jun 17, 2009 at 06:38:35 AM EST

without getting high first?
Impressive. I'm interested in what you might have to say after getting high.

[ Parent ]