Four Denver-area medical marijuana shops could be forced to close for good after being raided in November by federal officials. Officials suspected a link between the shops and Colombian drug cartels.

The raid was part of a wide-ranging search of more than a dozen medical marijuana businesses in the Denver and Boulder area. Colorado legalized medical marijuana in 2000 and this is the largest raid since then.

VIP Cannabis and three similar shops denied any illegal activity or connections to drug cartels. No federal charges have been made yet.

Still, marijuana industry regulators in Colorado want to shut down the four businesses: VIP Cannabis, Kushism and Highlands Cannabis Co. in Denver, and Grateful Meds in Nederland. Regulators informed the four companies that their licenses to operate as both medical dispensaries as well as cultivation facilities would be denied.

"You have operated the licensed premises in a manner that adversely affects the public health or welfare or the safety of the immediate neighborhoods in which your establishments are located," the state notice of denial reads. 

Shop owners will have 60 days to request hearings in response to the denial notices. As of right now, there's an inventory hold on the shops' marijuana products. That includes anything infused with marijuana, marijuana plants and anything else considered marijuana inventory.

The November raid of VIP Cannabis led to a seizure of more than $2 million in marijuana products. It also caused them to lay off over 100 employees and to close for about a month.

While Grateful Meds reopened a week after the raids, Kushism and Highlands Cannabis Co. are still closed.

It isn't clear what these companies are accused of because the Department of Justice hasn't released that information, but it's likely they violated recent guidelines put out in an August memo.

The August memo from the DOJ was designed for the new marijuana laws in Washington state and Colorado.

The DOJ's memo lists reasons for prosecution:

  • The distribution of marijuana to minors;
  • Revenue from the sale of marijuana from going to criminal enterprises, gangs and cartels;
  • The diversion of marijuana from states where it is legal under state law in some form to other states;
  • State-authorized marijuana activity from being used as a cover or pretext for the trafficking of other illegal drugs or other illegal activity;
  • Violence and the use of firearms in the cultivation and distribution of marijuana;
  • Drugged driving and the exacerbation of other adverse public health consequences associated with marijuana use;
  • Growing of marijuana on public lands and the attendant public safety and environmental dangers posed by marijuana production on public lands; and
  • Marijuana possession or use on federal property.

If these companies violate the above criteria or fail to follow the 500 pages of state marijuana law in Colorado, they could face prosecution or be forced to shut down.