Higher Education owner faces 160 years in prison for running ‘open drug market’

Dawn Marie Morris, a 51-year-old Louisa resident and an owner of the Higher Education chain of stores based in nearby Charlottesville, has been found guilty of moving hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of marijuana and psychedelic mushroom products through her operation in Louisa County.

County Commonwealth’s Attorney Rusty McGuire announced her conviction Monday.

Morris’ prosecution has been blasted by cannabis advocacy groups, including the Virginia Hemp Coalition, which called out the “backwards mindset” and “small minded folks” of Louisa County in a statement after Morris was charged.

Morris’ legal trouble began on Sept. 6, 2023, when the Louisa County Narcotics Task Force executed a search warrant at a former storage facility she owns on Courthouse Road.

Morris hosted weekly farmers market-style, pop-up shops at the facility under the Higher Education banner, selling a variety of smoking and vaping products, according to the commonwealth’s attorney’s office. In addition to marijuana products, Morris also sold psychedelic mushrooms, also known as psilocin, a Schedule I controlled substance in Virginia.

Unknown to Morris, the task force had already purchased mushrooms from her market before executing the search warrant.

“When the detectives executed the search warrant people took off running to escape the property,” the commonwealth’s attorney’s office recounted in a statement issued Monday. “A search of the tables showed everything from food, smoking products, mobile business called rolling buds, to drugs. Specifically, Morris had 13 clear bags of marijuana labeled as different strands of marijuana. Also, under or around Morris’ table were multiple pounds of marijuana. Another table openly sold psilocyn also known as mushrooms in the open market setting.”

A second search warrant was then executed on Morris’ residence, where detectives reported finding more mushrooms, marijuana and almost $100,000 in cash.

The assets seized totaled some $432,000, according to the commonwealth’s attorney.

Morris also was convicted Monday of committing perjury after telling the court she was too poor to hire her own counsel.

“I am shocked at the brazen attitude that drug dealers thought they could set up an open drug market in Louisa County,” McGuire said in a statement. “We hope this case sends a strong message to drug dealers that if you pedal your poison in Louisa, you will lose your drugs, money and freedom.”

In his own statement, lead counsel and Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Bob Wood urged the court to send Morris to prison for “a long time.”

“Morris thought she could ignore the laws of the Commonwealth in Louisa County and even after a warning to stop her illegal market she continued dealing drugs,” he said.

Morris is set to be sentenced on Feb. 3 of next year.

As part of the court’s ruling, she must remove all signs advertising Higher Education in Louisa County. The business has two other locations: its headquarters in Charlottesville’s Starr Hill neighborhood and a storefront in Richmond’s Carytown neighborhood. Both of those locations remain in operation.

In a statement this past August, the Virginia Hemp Coalition railed against the authorities in Louisa County.

“The smaller minded folks in power there … just can’t accept the fact that cannabis is indeed legal and is here to stay in the Commonwealth. While alcohol is everywhere to be seen in Louisa County they think they still have a right to harass folks who choose to partake in plant medicine,” the group said. “Dawn is facing jail time all because of this backwards mindset in Louisa County. She obviously does not deserve to be locked in a jail cell and is not a danger to the community. This would also waste more taxpayer dollars. Dawns story shows us there is still much work to do to right the wrongs of the misguided and corrupt war on cannabis by small minded, willfully ignorant powers that be in our Commonwealth of Virginia.”

While Virginians are allowed to possess cannabis products for personal use in their private residence and even cultivate up to four cannabis plants, public possession of more than an ounce of cannabis and selling or buying the product for personal use remains illegal.

Morris’ is the third felony drug conviction involving a vape company or someone associated with a vape company in Louisa County.