Judge Orders Cops to Give Back Man's 11-Pound Stash, One Doobie at a Time

[User]

The slow decriminalization of pot has created a whole mess of confusion over what's legal and what's not. But when it comes to the bizarre side-effects of conflicting medical marijuana laws, there may be no weirder scenario than what's happening in Kent, Wa.

There, a man was arrested at a pharmacy for possession of 11-pounds of pot. Somehow, despite holding a stash large enough to smoke-out a stable, the man was able to produce a California scrip saying he was a medical marijuana patient.

The result: The man's sentence was reduced from felony to misdemeanor possession. As for what to do with the weed? King County Judge Mary Roberts had a unique solution for that problem.

As Kent Police Chief Steve Strachan wrote in a Seattle Times op-ed, Judge Roberts ordered Strachan to give the man weekly portions of his seized chiba. Thus turning a police department into a makeshift dispensary full of caring nurses.

As scenarios go, it's awfully weird. But it also looks pretty smart from the judge's perspective.

Police obviously weren't buying the man's excuse that a dozen pounds of pot was strictly medicinal. And maybe the judge wasn't either. But her orders now mean that the man who said he was a patient now has to be treated as such. Even if that ends up putting Chief Strachan and his department in a bind, it's still a creative way to handle the whole deal.

Daily Weekly is trying to track down the man responsible for causing all this weirdness. More details to come.


NewsHawk: User: http://www.420magazine.com/
Source: seattleweekly.com
Author: Caleb Hannan
Copyright: 2009 Village Voice Media
Contact: Seattle Weekly
Website: Judge Orders Cops to Give Back Man's 11-Pound Stash, One Doobie at a Time

[Soniq420]

lol- this is fantastic.

The added unintended consequence - it teaches LEO, that if they don't want to get involved with similar bothers in the future; maybe they should just leave well enough alone

[farmboy420]

How much will that cost tax payers??? The wars on drugs is really using our hard earned tax $$ is an efficicent way...just give him back his stash and be done with it...

[NE14AJ]

i feel that the foolish mistakes and taking advantage of medical laws will result in stricter possession laws, as a whole we really need to be smart and not get caught slipping , im sorry WTF was the dude driving around with all that ,
I do respect the judges decision the fool got his cash regulated for being a dumb azz , i just feel no pity for the few that will mess it up for the rest of us trying to live a more comfortable life

[Cateros]

Originally Posted by farmboy420

How much will that cost tax payers??? The wars on drugs is really using our hard earned tax $$ is an efficicent way...just give him back his stash and be done with it...

exactly and the judge could have just put an open ended court order that allowed the police to drop by the mans residence and make him produce his stash and show that it is being used according to his prescription.? If he has less then he supposed to by far more then could be the result of dehydration of the bud then let him get in shit for abusing the system and I mean far less that could only be attributed to him traficking it unless he can show he legally distributed it to other medical patients.

[Soniq420]

I see the bowl as half full, not half empty

I just love a news story where the guy walks out of court with his medicine, whether it's a flower at a time or whether the cop has to help him carry his couple pounds to the car to take home.

Anytime our side prevails, I won't quibble

[Matanuska Valley]

The police can't give cannabis to a Patient, Fed law will not allow it...!
I had a judge order that I get 22 OZ's back do you think I got it...?
The same thing will happen to the 11 Lb's end of story... Any body in there right mind wouldn't go around with 11 Lb's so I would say the guy aint to fuc*ing smart...


MV...

[Soniq420]

Good to see you MV, hope all is well in your world.

Just a little friendly debate with you my friend....

The police have been forced to return Cannabis
Police Return Pot To Patient Three Years Later

The Garden Grove Case settled that police have to return bud
Supreme Court Refuses to Hear Case on Seized Medical Marijuana


The Court decision and refusal by the Supreme court to hear the appeal in California v San Diego, settled the law that state LEO has no legal standing to claim they can buck the state law because it's against federal law - this issue is over and we won.
U.S. Supreme Court Affirms California's Medical Marijuana Law

[Matanuska Valley]

If they (( police )) turn the Cannabis over to the fed's you aint getting it back or the police call the Fed's to be present @ the time of return your @ss will go to jail under fed law when you clam it as your's...

Nice to see you 2 Soniq420.


MV...

[AvonBarksdale]

The Government doesn't want to give the meds back because then they can't sell it for a profit. I have personally experienced the bad side of the law and seen just how dirty they really are (thats where calling them pigs came from)... Cops took well over 10 grand in cash and a couple lbs and never reported any of it.... I used to have repsect for the law until the B.S. they pulled on me.....
Marijuana will not be made legal until the Government can actually find a way of making billions off of the product legally, because there making way more money for it to be illegal.....

It's all about the MONEY..... The Government knows weed is not as harmful as cigarettes and alcohol but they found a way to legally tax it, control it, and make a fortune off of those products. They are trying to find that same formula for weed and as soon as they do they will make it legal.....

[Matanuska Valley]

Some of what you say I believe in AvonBarksdale with Cannabis and the laws when they (( Government )) can make more money off it being legal then it being illegal just as we are starting to see now through out the US law's will slowly change((MMJ)), you can bet your @ss they will make the new law's in there favor "we the people serve and protect our Government" don't u know
that...


MV...

[User]

Originally Posted by AvonBarksdale

The Government doesn't want to give the meds back because then they can't sell it for a profit......

i don't think the feds can give the Cannabis to anyone due to federal fda standards and it would violate all their other federal laws concerning Cannabis. it would need to be tested and approved by the fda and we know the likelyhood of that happening, though the odds are better than they were by a little bit. on the other hand states might be able to do it or local leo's.

[grow4ever]

Wow! Quite a story :-). Question, does anyone know if this man had more then one script (a caregiver?)

Per the Feds: If King County LE contacted the Feds they may very well have been turned away. 11 lbs of pot is not worth their time in man hours or cost of prosecution
($$ are a big factor now); particularly in larger liberal metro areas. This type of "bust" is just what the Obama Admin has recommended the DEA lay-off in the States that have approved Med-Pot. Technically MV is correct, from the Federal side the cops shouldn't be De facto Pot Caregivers :-).

This Judge and many others are siding more and more on the Legalese of the State law. A case in point was this recent news story...SFgate.com A Los Angeles medical marijuana clinic is entitled to recover more than $186,000 that was seized in an illegal police search and then claimed by the federal government, a U.S. appeals court ruled Tuesday.

Although federal agents can investigate marijuana suppliers for violating federal drug laws, the government should not be allowed to "profit from illegal activity by law enforcement," said the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. that I believe had a 9th circuit (Fed) court order the DEA to give back $189,000 seized from a Dispensery... I think we're slowly going in the right direction.

[Matanuska Valley]

I really hope and pray that the law change's for the good on both side's state & federal for the Patients that really need it like me 4 one...!
I can not take narcotic pain pills and my doctor knows and under stand that, That is why I have a MMJ card...!

MV...

[AvonBarksdale]

Originally Posted by Matanuska Valley

I really hope and pray that the law change's for the good on both side's state & federal for the Patients that really need it like me 4 one...!
I can not take narcotic pain pills and my doctor knows and under stand that, That is why I have a MMJ card...!

MV...

I'm right there with you cause I can't take any kind of narcotic pain meds either, but my state hasn't passed it into law to allows doctors to prescribe medical bud yet....