Police and loved-ones search for answers

A somber crowd of patients, neighbors, family and friends gathered Friday night at The Higher Path Holistic Care Collective in Echo Park, a suburb of Los Angeles, to remember Matthew Butcher, a local 27 year-old dispensary worker brutally murdered in an apparent robbery Thursday.

Candles, signs and words of remembrance for Matt were laid in front of the purple-faced storefront on busy Sunset boulevard. A gentle, quiet group of people huddled next to the bustling street. Those that came together to remember Matt, or Mateo as his friends called him, were as diverse as the city of Los Angeles; young, veterans, elderly, mothers with their children, activists, patients and those moved enough by the senseless violence to come from distant parts of the city.

Matt’s mother, Judy Butcher, described her son as just someone trying to get along in today’s tough job market while having the temperament that “he would have given a robber anything.”

Patients remembered Matt as a wonderful, kind person who had the time to speak to them not just about their medical needs but also about music, the internet, movies and golf.

Residents of the apartment buildings near the dispensary didn’t know much about the quiet purple storefront — until the police showed up Thursday for hours and kept them at bay. Sue Portillo, a local resident, mentioned that “we only ever saw the security guard” outside the premises. Portillo and her family were in attendance at the vigil to silently watch and understand what had unfolded the previous day.

It’s hard to imagine what drives someone to murder a young life so quickly and brutally — but the local community is wanting answers and quick action.

Michael Levitt, a medical marijuana activist, was looking for answers from the city for this crime. “This is not how it should be,” shouted Levitt. “This is the outcome of improper regulation.” The City of LA’s recent regulatory standards for medical marijuana dispensaries have been met with opposition from marijuana patients, owners and activists for its confusing rules, regulations and lack of medical marijuana community input. “We are calling for a safe and quick remedy,” implored Levitt.

Don Duncan, California Director of Americans for Safe Access, summarized the showing of the local residents, city patients and friends at Butcher’s vigil with, “this whole community stands in solidarity.”

For critics of the medical marijuana industry, violent incidents, such as the death of Matthew Butcher at Higher Path and another other killing, Thursday, at Hollywood Holistic 2, symbolize the opposition they have voiced all along: fears that the presence of marijuana dispensaries attract crime in their communities. But, Duncan sees those views as unfounded.

“It’s a shame that people will politicize it, of course, it’s a human tragedy, not a political one. That collectives draw crime is not true and even our chief of police agrees. Things like this have happened at liquor stores, convenience stores, fast food restaurants…and so wherever it happens, it’s a tragedy. It would be an injustice to the family and loved ones to make this, sort of, an anti-medical cannabis propaganda stunt. And, apparently, it deserves better than that.”
Community holds vigil for local cannabis worker
Police and loved-ones search for answers

In response to recent efforts by the City to restrict dispensary locations, Rafael, a member of Higher Path, from Glendale, says “what breeds crime, is putting me back on the street so I can get beat up or mugged.”

Rafael worries that he may have to travel even further for his medicine in the future. “Now Mayor Villaraigosa wants us to go to what, Pacoima? To buy it all at one little location. It makes no sense at all.”

Those mourning the loss of Matt are still searching for an explanation of his tragic death. Police investigations continue into his murder at The Higher Path and the stabbing death of an as-yet unidentified clerk at Hollywood Holistic 2. Police have no suspects in custody at this time.

Butcher’s mother summarized the feeling of those gathered in his memory: “incredibly senseless,” she said.