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Medical marijuana advocate Jean Marlowe says recent marijuana charges against Steve Marlowe will be fought and the fight will cost the taxpayers of this county thousands of dollars.
Jean Marlowe wrote a letter to the editor saying that she is one of the patients for whom Steve Marlowe grows marijuana. She questions the informant that the Polk County Sheriff's Office used to execute warrants and says the county faces potential lawsuits in the case for unnecessary destruction of one property and abuse to another individual, who was hit with a gun, knocked out and had to spend the night in the hospital.
Last Tuesday night, the Polk County Sheriff's Office executed search warrants at the home of Steve Marlowe on Coopers Trace Road in Sunny View, where officers seized about 60 marijuana plants being grown there, according to sheriff's office reports.
Steve Marlowe was charged with maintaining a vehicle/dwelling/place for a controlled substance, manufacturing marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia. He appeared in Polk County District Court last Wednesday; the case was continued until Dec. 12.
Although only Steve Marlowe was charged last Tuesday, Jean Marlowe says her advocacy for the use of medical marijuana has resulted in her being arrested and prosecuted in the past. She uses marijuana medicinally because she was born with a defective liver, which makes her allergic to any type pain reliever.
Several of her cases in the past (in 1996 and 1998) have been dismissed by the district attorney or reduced to a misdemeanor. Her most recent case in Bryson City in May was also dismissed. She says 14 states have now passed laws to protect patients and when this case is over she will work for N.C. Legislation to protect patients and their caregivers from prosecution.
She says Congress has passed the "Right To Be Pain Free Act," which provides some protection on a constitutional level. In her letter, Jean Marlowe questions the tactics used to execute the warrants against Steve and says the sheriff's office did not find large amounts of marijuana and cash as the informant had advised.
But sheriff's officers say there were 60 plants with special lights and that the growing operation was one of the biggest and most professional they'd seen.
Polk County Sheriff Chris Abril says the informant was local and his office was simply trying to do its job and enforce the law. "(Marijuana) is still illegal in North Carolina," Sheriff Abril said. "All we are doing is trying to do our jobs and enforce the law."
Editor's note: The following is a letter written by Jean Marlowe in support of Steve Marlowe, who was arrested on marijuana charges last Tuesday.
To the Editor:
I am writing on behalf of Steve Marlowe.
I am one of the patients for which Steve grows cannabis. The other patient is an MS patient who is bedridden and cannot come to court, but his mother and his specialist will be in court to testify to the jury.
I find it quite strange that the "reliable informant" the sheriff's department used will cost the taxpayers of this county thousands of dollars to settle the potential lawsuits from the unnecessary destruction to Mr. Bailey's private property, the trauma to his family and the abuse to Mr. McAbee, who was hit with a gun, knocked out and had to spend the night in the hospital, courtesy of taxpayers.
The faulty warrants were executed at the same time, late at night, involving numerous officers. These "keepers of the peace" went into Mr. Bailey's home with guns drawn after he told them there was only a woman, a two year old, a four year old and an eight year old in the house.
All of this came on the heels of the board of commissioners putting a "freeze" on hiring and excessive spending by the sheriff's department.
The "reliable informant" wasn't so reliable. There were no large amounts of marijuana, there were no tall marijuana plants, there were no drying marijuana plants, there were no thousands of dollars in cash; there were only lies and someone's medicine.
I know all citizens of our fair county do not remember the Superior Court judge returning our grow equipment in 1997 and threatening a county deputy with jail if it was not returned. He told Steve, in open court, not to grow outside where the plants could be seen by anyone. Several practicing attorneys and several judges, as well as the sheriff and the county attorney, do remember, however.
The cannabis the sheriff's department took was never to see the street. It was medicine for the winter months for sick and suffering patients. These patients will now suffer severe pain due to lack of their medicine during the worst and most painful time of the year. When the case is over, we are going to work hard for legislation in the state of North Carolina to protect patients and their care-givers from prosecution and persecution.
We are going to fight this ridiculous nonsense yet again and yet again we will prove that the people of this country do not want their tax dollars spent to arrest and persecute someone for easing the suffering of another. They do not want sick and suffering people nor their care-givers treated like criminals. Fourteen states have now passed laws to protect patients and their care-givers, let us hope that North Carolina will do likewise soon and end this stupid and needless waste of our tax dollars.
Congress has passed the "Right To Be Pain-Free Act" which provides some protection on a constitutional level. We can have a federal expert witness to testify to the cultivation amounts needed for each patient (this standard was adopted by Washington state for its medical marijuana law). We can have a patient who has received cannabis from the federal government for medicine for 25 years to testify as well.
"Marijuana in its natural form, is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known... It would be unreasonable, arbitrary and capricious for the DEA to continue to stand between those sufferers and the benefits of this substance," (quote from DEA Chief Administrative Law Judge The Honorable Francis L. Young on cannabis rescheduling, 1988).
The science is now available online from the scientists and researchers who performed these studies. For more information go to https://www/youtube.com/cannabistherapeutics or go to ASA : Advancing Legal Medical Marijuana Therapeutics and Research.
The Bible teaches us to love one another and to care for each other, to ease the suffering of our brothers and sisters here on this Earth, to be good stewards of our planet, its wildlife and all of God's creations. God is the Creator of the medicine that I use.
Frankly, I find it strange that anyone could have a problem with that fact, yet it seems to upset so many other people that aren't even affected. I hope that someday, everyone will be able to coexist without finding fault with others and live in peace. We will keep you informed. We are talking with friends and experts around the country and planning our battle strategy.
– Jean Marlowe
Source: Tryon Daily Bulletin, The (NC)
Copyright: 2007 Tryon Daily Bulletin
Contact: jbyrd@tryondailybulletin.com
Website: Tryon Daily Bulletin | The world's smallest daily Web site
Jean Marlowe wrote a letter to the editor saying that she is one of the patients for whom Steve Marlowe grows marijuana. She questions the informant that the Polk County Sheriff's Office used to execute warrants and says the county faces potential lawsuits in the case for unnecessary destruction of one property and abuse to another individual, who was hit with a gun, knocked out and had to spend the night in the hospital.
Last Tuesday night, the Polk County Sheriff's Office executed search warrants at the home of Steve Marlowe on Coopers Trace Road in Sunny View, where officers seized about 60 marijuana plants being grown there, according to sheriff's office reports.
Steve Marlowe was charged with maintaining a vehicle/dwelling/place for a controlled substance, manufacturing marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia. He appeared in Polk County District Court last Wednesday; the case was continued until Dec. 12.
Although only Steve Marlowe was charged last Tuesday, Jean Marlowe says her advocacy for the use of medical marijuana has resulted in her being arrested and prosecuted in the past. She uses marijuana medicinally because she was born with a defective liver, which makes her allergic to any type pain reliever.
Several of her cases in the past (in 1996 and 1998) have been dismissed by the district attorney or reduced to a misdemeanor. Her most recent case in Bryson City in May was also dismissed. She says 14 states have now passed laws to protect patients and when this case is over she will work for N.C. Legislation to protect patients and their caregivers from prosecution.
She says Congress has passed the "Right To Be Pain Free Act," which provides some protection on a constitutional level. In her letter, Jean Marlowe questions the tactics used to execute the warrants against Steve and says the sheriff's office did not find large amounts of marijuana and cash as the informant had advised.
But sheriff's officers say there were 60 plants with special lights and that the growing operation was one of the biggest and most professional they'd seen.
Polk County Sheriff Chris Abril says the informant was local and his office was simply trying to do its job and enforce the law. "(Marijuana) is still illegal in North Carolina," Sheriff Abril said. "All we are doing is trying to do our jobs and enforce the law."
Editor's note: The following is a letter written by Jean Marlowe in support of Steve Marlowe, who was arrested on marijuana charges last Tuesday.
To the Editor:
I am writing on behalf of Steve Marlowe.
I am one of the patients for which Steve grows cannabis. The other patient is an MS patient who is bedridden and cannot come to court, but his mother and his specialist will be in court to testify to the jury.
I find it quite strange that the "reliable informant" the sheriff's department used will cost the taxpayers of this county thousands of dollars to settle the potential lawsuits from the unnecessary destruction to Mr. Bailey's private property, the trauma to his family and the abuse to Mr. McAbee, who was hit with a gun, knocked out and had to spend the night in the hospital, courtesy of taxpayers.
The faulty warrants were executed at the same time, late at night, involving numerous officers. These "keepers of the peace" went into Mr. Bailey's home with guns drawn after he told them there was only a woman, a two year old, a four year old and an eight year old in the house.
All of this came on the heels of the board of commissioners putting a "freeze" on hiring and excessive spending by the sheriff's department.
The "reliable informant" wasn't so reliable. There were no large amounts of marijuana, there were no tall marijuana plants, there were no drying marijuana plants, there were no thousands of dollars in cash; there were only lies and someone's medicine.
I know all citizens of our fair county do not remember the Superior Court judge returning our grow equipment in 1997 and threatening a county deputy with jail if it was not returned. He told Steve, in open court, not to grow outside where the plants could be seen by anyone. Several practicing attorneys and several judges, as well as the sheriff and the county attorney, do remember, however.
The cannabis the sheriff's department took was never to see the street. It was medicine for the winter months for sick and suffering patients. These patients will now suffer severe pain due to lack of their medicine during the worst and most painful time of the year. When the case is over, we are going to work hard for legislation in the state of North Carolina to protect patients and their care-givers from prosecution and persecution.
We are going to fight this ridiculous nonsense yet again and yet again we will prove that the people of this country do not want their tax dollars spent to arrest and persecute someone for easing the suffering of another. They do not want sick and suffering people nor their care-givers treated like criminals. Fourteen states have now passed laws to protect patients and their care-givers, let us hope that North Carolina will do likewise soon and end this stupid and needless waste of our tax dollars.
Congress has passed the "Right To Be Pain-Free Act" which provides some protection on a constitutional level. We can have a federal expert witness to testify to the cultivation amounts needed for each patient (this standard was adopted by Washington state for its medical marijuana law). We can have a patient who has received cannabis from the federal government for medicine for 25 years to testify as well.
"Marijuana in its natural form, is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known... It would be unreasonable, arbitrary and capricious for the DEA to continue to stand between those sufferers and the benefits of this substance," (quote from DEA Chief Administrative Law Judge The Honorable Francis L. Young on cannabis rescheduling, 1988).
The science is now available online from the scientists and researchers who performed these studies. For more information go to https://www/youtube.com/cannabistherapeutics or go to ASA : Advancing Legal Medical Marijuana Therapeutics and Research.
The Bible teaches us to love one another and to care for each other, to ease the suffering of our brothers and sisters here on this Earth, to be good stewards of our planet, its wildlife and all of God's creations. God is the Creator of the medicine that I use.
Frankly, I find it strange that anyone could have a problem with that fact, yet it seems to upset so many other people that aren't even affected. I hope that someday, everyone will be able to coexist without finding fault with others and live in peace. We will keep you informed. We are talking with friends and experts around the country and planning our battle strategy.
– Jean Marlowe
Source: Tryon Daily Bulletin, The (NC)
Copyright: 2007 Tryon Daily Bulletin
Contact: jbyrd@tryondailybulletin.com
Website: Tryon Daily Bulletin | The world's smallest daily Web site
