Sex, Spice, and Small-Town Texas Justice: The Purple Zone Raid
On the morning of May 7, 2014, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) launched Project Synergy Phase II, a national “day of raids” in 29 states, with the goal of taking down purveyors of synthetic drugs who funnel their proceeds to Middle Eastern terrorist organizations.
The Purple Zone, a smoke shop in Alpine, Texas, owned by 29-year-old Ilana Lipsen, was the target of one of these raids. This particular raid was so heavy handed and its aftermath so clumsily handled by law enforcement that it drew national attention as a symbol of police militarization and the vagaries of laws pertaining to drug “analogues.” Analogues are chemicals that are not prohibited but are similar enough to controlled substances that they become illegal depending on who interprets the data.
Even worse, The Purple Zone and its owner may have been targeted because of the personal vendetta of a single prosecutor.
Filed under: General Problems
We’ve had a couple of raids here on a couple of smoke shops..not as extensive at this one…and they claimed they found Spice on the premisis. The shops are still in business and there was zero follow up news in the paper or TV as to whether or not the initial reports were true or court coverage. IMO it was all for show.