Jim Finnel
Fallen Cannabis Warrior & Ex News Moderator
When U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents and the Saginaw County Sheriff’s Department raided Edwyn W. Boyke Jr.’s house on April 15, they confiscated a lot of his property under Michigan’s quarter-century-old drug forfeiture law.
But they left the Weed Wacker.
It must have been an oversight — that, or they don’t call marijuana “weed” anymore.
A car, a TV, two lawnmowers, a little pocket cash, scales, five jars of harvested marijuana, little seedlings and larger plants were taken — and Boyke’s state of Michigan medical marijuana card.
Boyke, who hadn’t been charged with a crime by late last week, is legally allowed under a law Michigan voters passed by a landslide in late 2008 to grow and use marijuana. In his case, to treat chronic pain.
But that law is full of holes.
Patients, with a doctor’s recommendation, are registered with the Michigan Department of Public Health, but that department is not allowed to pass the information to law enforcers.
Plus, federal prohibition against marijuana possession, much less sale, for everyone but a very few researchers is still in full force.
When detectives from Saginaw County Sheriff William L. Federspiel’s department acted on a tip to federal DEA agents that Boyke was growing pot in his basement, they got a search warrant and raided the place. Per standard operating procedure, the raiders destroyed whatever they though was used to grow and process marijuana.
And they took Boyke’s property.
Boyke got his items back, but only after agreeing to pay $5,000 instead of appealing the confiscation in court.
In response to some in the community upset with the tactics in the raid, the sheriff’s department announced last week that detectives will no longer destroy marijuana growing equipment, and confiscate the gear instead.
There’s so much that’s offensive in this case — one of several that have cropped up across the state in the past year or so — that it’s difficult to know where to begin.
For their part, law enforcers appear to have operated within the broad outlines of state and federal laws.
Going strictly by the book, Boyke himself admits that his little seedlings in Dixie cups did put him over the per-patient, 12-plant limit outlined in the new state law.
Leafing through the loose limits allowed under federal and state laws for forfeiture of ill-gotten gains in the drug trade, police can take pretty much anything, even cars and houses. Unlike people, that property is considered guilty until its owner can prove that it was obtained innocently, with legally gotten tender.
Not too many people paid the forfeiture law much mind when law enforcement used it to take a bite out of drug crimes, and sold the property or turned it around to help in the fight against the scourge of illegal drugs.
But now we’re seeing people like 64-year-old Boyke, one of the 20,000 people in Michigan who can legally grow and use marijuana as medicine, fall under this harsh forfeiture law.
That law is flawed.
Our state legislators should take it up, and revise it to something more in step with America as most of us understand it — the land of the free. Sure, take drug dealers’ stuff if there’s a clear understanding that it was used in the illegal drug trade. If there’s reason to believe it was bought with drug money, take the cars and other property, too. The burden of proving law enforcers were right in taking it should rest squarely with prosecutors and police.
Then, return the property, at no charge, to the owners if no charges are brought within a month or so, or if the accused is acquitted in court.
As for that medical marijuana law, it’s like smoke drifting in a room.
This fall may be exactly the right time for our state’s vast number of term-limited, lame-duck legislators to not worry about the politics of pot and approve some amendments that could help both medical marijuana patients and police.
Patients should know exactly where they stand under the law — maybe even feel free to call for a police inspection of their operation without fear of arrest.
Police would benefit by avoiding the kind of public relations disaster that Boyke’s case has become for Sheriff Federspiel.
The sheriff, by the way, perfectly illustrates the dilemma this medical marijuana law presents. Before election, he said he supported the then-proposed law; he recently told us he voted for it. But as a lawman, he must enforce the laws that legislators give him.
Make the medical marijuana law worker better for everyone, legislators.
And by all means forge that forfeiture law into a more civil proceeding.
NewsHawk: User: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: mlive.com
Author: The Saginaw News staff
Copyright: 2010 Michigan Live LLC.
Contact: Contact Us - MLive.com
Website: Our Voice: Drug raid shows the need to revise medical marijuana, forfeiture laws | - MLive.com
But they left the Weed Wacker.
It must have been an oversight — that, or they don’t call marijuana “weed” anymore.
A car, a TV, two lawnmowers, a little pocket cash, scales, five jars of harvested marijuana, little seedlings and larger plants were taken — and Boyke’s state of Michigan medical marijuana card.
Boyke, who hadn’t been charged with a crime by late last week, is legally allowed under a law Michigan voters passed by a landslide in late 2008 to grow and use marijuana. In his case, to treat chronic pain.
But that law is full of holes.
Patients, with a doctor’s recommendation, are registered with the Michigan Department of Public Health, but that department is not allowed to pass the information to law enforcers.
Plus, federal prohibition against marijuana possession, much less sale, for everyone but a very few researchers is still in full force.
When detectives from Saginaw County Sheriff William L. Federspiel’s department acted on a tip to federal DEA agents that Boyke was growing pot in his basement, they got a search warrant and raided the place. Per standard operating procedure, the raiders destroyed whatever they though was used to grow and process marijuana.
And they took Boyke’s property.
Boyke got his items back, but only after agreeing to pay $5,000 instead of appealing the confiscation in court.
In response to some in the community upset with the tactics in the raid, the sheriff’s department announced last week that detectives will no longer destroy marijuana growing equipment, and confiscate the gear instead.
There’s so much that’s offensive in this case — one of several that have cropped up across the state in the past year or so — that it’s difficult to know where to begin.
For their part, law enforcers appear to have operated within the broad outlines of state and federal laws.
Going strictly by the book, Boyke himself admits that his little seedlings in Dixie cups did put him over the per-patient, 12-plant limit outlined in the new state law.
Leafing through the loose limits allowed under federal and state laws for forfeiture of ill-gotten gains in the drug trade, police can take pretty much anything, even cars and houses. Unlike people, that property is considered guilty until its owner can prove that it was obtained innocently, with legally gotten tender.
Not too many people paid the forfeiture law much mind when law enforcement used it to take a bite out of drug crimes, and sold the property or turned it around to help in the fight against the scourge of illegal drugs.
But now we’re seeing people like 64-year-old Boyke, one of the 20,000 people in Michigan who can legally grow and use marijuana as medicine, fall under this harsh forfeiture law.
That law is flawed.
Our state legislators should take it up, and revise it to something more in step with America as most of us understand it — the land of the free. Sure, take drug dealers’ stuff if there’s a clear understanding that it was used in the illegal drug trade. If there’s reason to believe it was bought with drug money, take the cars and other property, too. The burden of proving law enforcers were right in taking it should rest squarely with prosecutors and police.
Then, return the property, at no charge, to the owners if no charges are brought within a month or so, or if the accused is acquitted in court.
As for that medical marijuana law, it’s like smoke drifting in a room.
This fall may be exactly the right time for our state’s vast number of term-limited, lame-duck legislators to not worry about the politics of pot and approve some amendments that could help both medical marijuana patients and police.
Patients should know exactly where they stand under the law — maybe even feel free to call for a police inspection of their operation without fear of arrest.
Police would benefit by avoiding the kind of public relations disaster that Boyke’s case has become for Sheriff Federspiel.
The sheriff, by the way, perfectly illustrates the dilemma this medical marijuana law presents. Before election, he said he supported the then-proposed law; he recently told us he voted for it. But as a lawman, he must enforce the laws that legislators give him.
Make the medical marijuana law worker better for everyone, legislators.
And by all means forge that forfeiture law into a more civil proceeding.
NewsHawk: User: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: mlive.com
Author: The Saginaw News staff
Copyright: 2010 Michigan Live LLC.
Contact: Contact Us - MLive.com
Website: Our Voice: Drug raid shows the need to revise medical marijuana, forfeiture laws | - MLive.com
