Medical Marijuana Oil Producers Raided in California

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Local law enforcement agents raided five properties in Sonoma County, California, connected to a pair of well-known medical marijuana oil producing companies, indicating the industry continues to face a legal risk even while the state is crafting rules for MMJ businesses.

The two brands, Absolute Xtracts and Care by Design, had to halt production after county police seized equipment and inventory, the Santa Rosa Press Democrat reported.

But authorities also said the head of the company, Dennis Hunter, was using “illegal and hazardous production methods,” and was breaking a number of city ordinances, according to the paper.

A spokesman for the companies denied that either brand was using any chemicals prohibited by law, and insisted that the duo are legal businesses.

Hunter, however, reportedly has a checkered legal past. He was arrested in 2002 for illegal marijuana production in Humboldt County, California, after having gone “on the run” for four years, the Press Democrat reported. As a consequence, he’s being held now on a $5 million bail.