PENDLETON — Two years after he was arrested in a drug raid, the owner of Pendleton’s fourth marijuana store is open for business.

Bryson Thurman said his dispensary, Thur’s Smoke Shop, opened on Sept. 10 at the corner of Southeast Court Avenue and 16th Street and has received brisk business since then.

It’s a far cry from May 2017, when the Blue Mountain Enforcement Narcotics Team served a warrant at Thur’s, then a tobacco product and smoking accessory retailer operating at 34 S.W. Emigrant Ave., and seized “substantial quantities of marijuana and marijuana extract (dabs) packaged for sale,” according to Pendleton Police Chief Stuart Roberts, at the time.

Thurman was arrested for delivery of controlled substances and unlawful possession of marijuana products, but more than two years later, the Umatilla County District Attorney’s Office has yet to charge Thurman with a crime.

Thurman said he was never charged because authorities seized medical marijuana that he legally owned for himself and his patients. He said his attorney later successfully convinced a judge to seal the arrest records.

District Attorney Dan Primus did not return a voicemail message and text message requesting comment on Friday.

Roberts deferred questions about the lack of charges to the district attorney’s office, but he did talk about his role in signing off on Thurman’s business license.

Roberts said he spoke with District Attorney Dan Primus, who told Roberts that his office didn’t have any intention of criminally charging Thurman.

“I don’t anticipate, based on the initial conversation I had with the district attorney, that Mr. Thurman, in any way, shape or form, will have his ability to open and operate a dispensary be compromised,” he said.

Both the city and the Oregon Liquor Control Commission need to approve the building and the owner before a marijuana business can start operating, but Thurman said the 2017 arrest wasn’t an impediment to getting approval from both agencies.

Thurman pleaded guilty to possession of marijuana and careless driving and pleaded no contest to driving under the influence of intoxicants in Wasco County in 2012, but the case was dismissed in 2014 when he completed a drug and alcohol treatment program.

The other thing that delayed the opening of the new Thur’s was relatively mundane in comparison to the BENT arrest. Thurman decided to have the new Thur’s facility built from the ground up, and he said delays from the contractor pushed back the opening.

Thurman’s encounter with BENT wasn’t the only obstacle he faced toward opening his pot shop.

Thurman originally applied for a conditional use permit from the city in February 2017, around the same time that Pendleton’s other three cannabis stores — Pendleton Cannabis, Kind Leaf Pendleton, and High Desert Cannabis — sought to open their doors.

But the initial proposed location for the Thur’s dispensary, 1292 S.W. Tutuilla Road, drew opposition from residential neighbors, nearby businesses, and the Pendleton School District.

Thur’s secured approval from the Pendleton Planning Commission, but after opponents appealed the decision, he withdrew his application and set his sights on a former parking lot for the old St. Anthony Hospital building on Southwest Court.

The planning commission approved Thur’s conditional use application on May 25, 2017, eight days after Thurman’s arrest.

With Thur’s now open, Thurman said he’s now focused on finding his niche in Pendleton’s burgeoning pot market.

Despite not doing any advertising ahead of the opening, Thurman said business has been strong in its opening week.