Philadelphia rabble-rouser NA Poe, his girlfriend Rachael Friedman and 20 others were arrested on various drug charges Apr. 22 after police raided Philly Smoke Session, an illegal warehouse weed market.
Police reportedly confiscated 50 pounds of marijuana, 100 pounds of edible products and $50,000 in cash at the Worth St. location in Northeast Philadelphia. Poe's apartment in South Philadelphia was also searched.
Poe (nee Richard Tamaccio) and Friedman were charged with possession with intent to deliver, conspiracy, possession of a controlled substance, use or possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of an instrument of crime, causing or risking a catastrophe and reckless endangering another person. The latter two charges relate to the warehouse location, which was deemed a safety and fire hazard due to the use of butane torches (for dabbing) and the building's one exit.
The couple are in jail on $250,000 bail each, which requires a payment of $25,000 each in order for them to be released.
Philly NORML activist Chris Goldstein, who was at the event when it was raided, questioned the legitimacy of the police action. "If this is brazen under state law, then raising $7 million and opening a medical marijuana dispensary is brazen under federal law," he stated, referring to Pennsylvania's new medical cannabis law.
Goldstein and 175 others were searched but not arrested during the Smoke Session shakedown.
Both Poe and Goldstein famously were arrested for lighting up joints on Independence Mall in 2013 and 2014 during their Smoke Down Prohibitions events in Philadelphia. Both received fines and probation sentences.
