Medical Marijuana Users Suing City, Police Department

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Eight medical marijuana users are suing the city of Temecula and the Riverside County Sheriff's Department for "unlawfully" seizing marijuana plants during a raid in September 2008.

The plants, more than 70, were being grown at the Temecula home of Martin Victor, a 57-year-old who was arrested on suspicion of cultivation and possession of marijuana for sale.

The lawsuit, filed this month in Riverside Superior Court, states that the marijuana seized during the raid was the rightful property of the eight plaintiffs, who say they were all members of a "cooperative" at the time. The plaintiffs are seeking damages of at least $1 million each.

State law allows medical marijuana users to band together to form nonprofit cooperatives or collectives to communally share marijuana grown for the members' personal use.

Sheriff's Department officials have said Victor did not provide sufficient evidence to prove that the marijuana he was growing was solely intended for use by members of the cooperative.

A hearing in Victor's criminal case is scheduled for Nov. 2, at which time a judge would decide whether there is enough evidence for Victor to stand trial.

Guidelines issued by Attorney General Jerry Brown in August 2008 ---- about a month before the raid on Victor's house ---- detail a number of steps that a cooperative or collective could take to protect itself from prosecution.

But the guidelines are vague, stating only that the nonprofits should be "organized with sufficient structure to ensure ... compliance with all state and local laws."

Richard Ackerman, the Murrieta attorney who filed the suit on behalf of the plaintiffs, said his clients were clearly members of a legal nonprofit based on the definition provided by the attorney general.

"That's part of the reason I'm involved in this issue. People shouldn't get into trouble for doing something that's legal," he said.

During the raid, Victor and his wife, LaVonne Victor, showed officers their cards and provided photocopies of state-issued medical marijuana cards for 10 members of the cooperative.

Martin Victor has been diagnosed with optical edema, a swelling of the eyes' optical nerve, and his wife with multiple sclerosis and panic attacks.

A Temecula police lieutenant said, during an interview shortly after the arrest, that authorities were not swayed by the documentation, which didn't include any sort of proof that the cooperative was properly registered with the state.

"All indicators are that the marijuana found there was not just for the Victors and those 10 others," he said.

Temecula police Chief Andre O'Harra said Friday that his office could not comment on the Victor case because of the lawsuit.

State law allows qualified medical marijuana users to possess 8 ounces of dried marijuana, and they may maintain no more than six mature or 12 immature plants per qualified patient. However, if a person has valid documentation but more marijuana than is allowed, state law says all the marijuana may be seized.

Ackerman said that if the officers were correct and Victor had more marijuana than was allowed ---- a matter that will be decided in the criminal case ---- that didn't give the officers the right to seize the marijuana owned by the other members of the collective.

"This is very basic," he said. "This is befuddling to me that this is such an issue. They are interfering with a lawful medical treatment. Period."

While state law allows local cities to tailor their rules as to the use of medical marijuana, Temecula City Attorney Peter Thorson said in an e-mail to The Californian that the city has not adopted any specific ordinance to govern medical marijuana cultivation and possession.

In some cities, Berkeley for example, medical marijuana users are allowed to maintain more than six mature plants. Other cities allow only two plants.

In the city's development code, medical marijuana dispensaries are listed as a prohibited land use, Thorson said.

Brown's guidelines state that dispensaries are not legally recognized by the state and that if they are operating on a for-profit basis or operating as primary caregivers for a large number of clients they are "likely unlawful."

In the early part of the decade, the Victors, who were allegedly running the collective from their home, reached a plea agreement in which drug charges were dropped against LaVonne Victor, and Martin Victor pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of furnishing an ounce of marijuana with all other counts against him being dropped.

In recent months, there has been a flurry of court decisions, announcements by the Justice Department and law enforcement activity in Southern California that have clouded already hazy medical marijuana issues.

In San Diego County, 14 storefronts operating as alleged dispensaries were raided by authorities. In the city of Los Angeles, a judge recently told the city that its moratorium on new dispensaries was not valid, opening the door to the potential for hundreds of new dispensaries in a city that is already home to plenty of storefronts.


NewsHawk: User: http://www.420magazine.com/
Source: nctimes.com
Author: Aaron Claverie
Copyright: 2009 North County Times - Californian
Contact: Contact Us - North County Times/The Californian
Website: TEMECULA: Medical marijuana users suing city, Police Department