Pro-Pot Group Demands Return Of Signed Petitions Seized During Drug Raids

[Ganjarden]

A group trying to get a marijuana legalization initiative on the fall ballot says some of its signed petitions were seized during drug raids conducted by the West Sound Narcotics Enforcement Team earlier this month.

WestNET says if the group wants the petitions back, all it has to do is ask.

The task force searched houses and a business in Tacoma and Olalla on May 11 and arrested two people on marijuana charges. Officers took the signatures while gathering evidence and trying to prove that the suspects had "dominion and control" over the properties, WestNET Sgt. Carlos Rodriguez said.

They were not taken on purpose and officers didn’t scrutinize the names or glean any information from the petitions, Rodriguez said. He added that the initiative’s organizers can make an appointment to pick them up from WestNET’s property room in Port Orchard.

Sensible Washington, which is hoping to get marijuana-legalizing Initiative 1068 on the November ballot, believes about 200 signatures were taken. The raids ended in the arrests of an Olalla man and Tacoma man, who ran North End Club 420.

The suspects describe Club 420 as a medical marijuana dispensary, but WestNET says it illegally grew and sold marijuana.

About 70 marijuana plants were taken from a home on the 13000 block of Olympic Drive in South Kitsap. The Olalla man had authorization to grow pot under state law, but detectives took issue with the number of plants he had. State law allows 15 per patient.

Phillip Dawdy, spokesman for I-1068, said he understands police procedures about seizing potential evidence, but he worries that such a confiscation might have a "chilling effect" on future signature-gathering.

"I’m glad they’re doing the right thing and making them available to us," he said.

Under the Washington Medical Marijuana Act, a person can only grow and provide marijuana for one person at any time, and selling it is illegal. Initiative 1068 aims to legalize the sale, use and possession of marijuana.


NewsHawk: Ganjarden: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: The News Tribune
Author: Josh Farley
Contact: The News Tribune
Copyright: 2010 Tacoma News, Inc.
Website: Pro-pot group demands return of signed petitions seized during drug raids

* Thanks to MedicalNeed for submitting this article