Drug Enforcement Administration agents arrived about noon on 31 July 2008 at Organica Collective in the 13400 block of Washington Boulevard in Culver City and spent more than four hours serving a search warrant that resulted in no arrests but left the shop in disarray.[1] Agency spokeswoman Sarah Pullen said marijuana remained a controlled substance that was illegal under federal law to possess, dispense or cultivate in any form.[1] Agents left counters strewn with open glass jars, an ATM with its doors torn open and emptied, a safe cut open, and an outdoor vegetable garden with plants uprooted and marijuana plants removed.[1] Brian V. Birbiglia, 35, sat handcuffed beside DEA agents on a couch outside the dispensary for more than four hours and was then released.[1]

Same-day court ruling

The raid fell on the day a San Diego appeals court ruled that San Diego and San Bernardino counties must issue government ID cards to patients whose doctors recommend marijuana, rejecting the counties’ argument that federal law overrode state law.[1] The Guardian later reported the dispensary’s stock, records and money had been confiscated, yet it reopened the next day with customers returning within a week.[2] Ed Jones, a friend of owner Jeff Joseph, called the raid a smash and grab by heavily armed agents who took all the dispensary’s money.[2]