Synthetic Drug Raid Warrants Used to Target Cannabis

Federal law enforcement officials, in cooperation with police forces in Keene, New Hampshire, conducted a raid of a local business.

Agents from the DEA entered Phat Stuff, a large retail outlet on Main Street, on Thursday, May 8th to confiscate synthetic drugs. The warrant was signed by U.S. District Judge Steven McAuliffe.

While police confiscated merchandise, customers trying to enter the store were turned away by Sergeant Jason Short of the Keene Police Department.

Synthetic marijuana was made illegal in the city of 22,000 people last summer. At that time, an employee told a local newspaper the store no longer sells the substances. The search warrant gave police authorization to seize any product which could be used for
marijuana.

Police seized business records, and video footage of employees and customers, dating back to 2011. Phat Stuff has been in business for 11 years in the Keene area, including three on Main Street. Several other stores in the college town also sell materials which could be used to ingest marijuana.

The raid was part of a nationwide program called Operation Synergy. In the last week, 200 search warrants were executed by 45 DEA offices in 29 states. Included in the program are customs agencies, Homeland Security and the IRS.

Free Keene, a group working for civil liberties in the city, made video recordings of the raid, which they made available on YouTube.

Mat Boardman, an employee at the store, vowed the business will benefit from the raid, saying “[W]e are going to use this tragedy as motivation to rebuild… bigger and better than it already was.”

http://www.freekeene.com

http://www.sentinelsource.com/news/local/federal-agents-raid-keene-head-shop-store-

closed/article_71c2a62f-2945-569c-98ec-bdb4cbb076f2.html

http://freekeene.com/2014/05/08/video-dea-raids-phat-stuff-as-part-of-nationwide-

crackdown

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xW3v63j9jgQ&feature=youtu.be

http://www.fbi.gov/sanantonio/press-releases/2013/operation-synergy-results-in-arrests-

of-18-for-synthetic-cannabinoid-distribution-operations-in-austin-and-san-antonio