USA - Cops Must Return Patient's Medicine-medical marijuana

[OccularFantasm]

http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/...ce_must_return

Drug War Chronicle - world’s leading drug policy newsletter


Medical Marijuana: Courts in California and Colorado Rule Cops Must Return Patient's Medicine


from Drug War Chronicle, Issue # 512, 11/30/07
Court rulings in two medical marijuana states this week slapped down law enforcement agencies who don't want to uphold the law. In both cases, judges ordered law enforcement agencies to return marijuana seized from patients or providers.
In Colorado, a Larimer County District Court judge ruled Monday that the sheriff's department must return 39 marijuana plants and growing equipment seized from a Fort Collins couple during an August 2006 raid. After listening to four hours of testimony in which patients told him James and Lisa Masters were growing for them, Judge James Hiatt issued a verbal order requiring the department to turn over the plants and equipment to the couple. Although the couple were not registers as caregivers, they were acting as caregivers and thus protected by the law, the judge held.
The couple's attorney, Brian Vicente, who also heads the marijuana advocacy group Sensible Colorado, warned authorities that his clients will seek compensation if the sheriff's department does not deliver the plants in good condition. "If they've allowed these plants to die, they've broken the law," said Vicente, adding that he estimated their combined value at $100,000.
The district court ruling could be appealed. Larimer County District Attorney Larry Abrahamson had not decided by week's end whether his office would appeal.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, a California appeals court ordered the Garden Grove Police Department to return marijuana it seized from a patient. Police had seized eight grams of marijuana from Felix Kha during a June 2005 traffic stop. Prosecutors dropped marijuana possession charges after Kha proved he had a doctor's recommendation. Kha asked for his medicine back, and his trial judge agreed. But the city appealed, arguing that it should not have to violate federal drug laws.
In its Wednesday opinion, a three-judge panel from the Fourth Appellate District slapped the city down, saying state law comes first. "By returning Kha's marijuana to him, the Garden Grove police would not just be upholding the principles of federalism... They would be fulfilling their more traditional duty to administer the laws of this state," the opinion read. "We do not believe that federal drug laws supersede or preempt Kha's right to a return of his property,'' they later continued.
Medical marijuana advocates, who have tallied dozens of similar seizures by local law enforcement agencies, called the ruling a victory for patients' and states' rights. "It should now be abundantly clear to law enforcement across the state that it is not acceptable to seize the medicine of seriously ill patients," said Joe Elford, who represented Kha as Chief Counsel for Americans for Safe Access.

Reputation Comments on this post:

Thanks for contributing to this forum.