Making a scene

Not a lot of details are available about a series of raids in which local Metro police cooperated with federal drug agents (gets around so many pesky questions concerning federal jurisdiction, you see) to serve warrants on medical marijuana clinics in and around Las Vegas this week.

The reason not a lot of details are available? “No arrests were made today in connection with these warrants, and the warrants and supporting affidavits are sealed; thus, no additional information can be provided at this time,” announced U.S. attorney’s office spokeswoman Natalie Collins.

So: Go back to federal court and ask the judge to unseal them.

Nevada voters, like California’s, have repeatedly ruled they want legitimate users of medical marijuana to be left in peace.

If the federal government has evidence there are serious drug criminals operating in our midst, merely claiming to be doing no more than helping legitimate medical patients find access to the plant, the public should be told.

Otherwise — because such raids continue here, while the Obama administration has ordered the narcs to lay off California’s far more active and blatant cannabis dispensaries — it’s hard not to wonder if this isn’t merely another administration effort to “save government jobs,” in this case the jobs of federal narcs with too much time on their hands.

It’s certainly no stretch of the imagination to figure authorities know such well-publicized raids will have a chilling effect on legitimate medical patients. “If I even make inquiries, the DEA is going to get a warrant, seize a list containing my name, and investigate me? No thanks, I’ll stick with the more toxic, expensive and debilitating drugs I already use.”

Agents and police wearing ski masks to make them look more frightening, closing off parking lots with yellow police tape and banging on doors? When authorities admit no one was arrested? Isn’t that just a little over the top?

Seems as though a pair of uniformed officers could have calmly knocked at the door of each location, presented their warrants, and calmly collected whatever evidence the courts have authorized them to seek, without creating much disruption.

Or was “disruption” what this was really all about?