SmokeDog420
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Emeryville -- Police Thursday returned some medical marijuana plants and growing equipment seized from a patient in December. But what James Blair got back was shriveled remnants of what officers had originally taken, in part because thieves raided the city's evidence locker earlier this year.
Blair was arrested Dec. 12 after police officers serving a search warrant at his Emeryville apartment found about 30 marijuana plants, growing lights and other indoor cultivation equipment.
Blair said he had a prescription from his doctor for marijuana because he broke his neck and needs the medicinal herb for chronic pain and to help him sleep.
He was released after posting bail but rearrested a few days later and charged with possession with intent to distribute marijuana.
Although the case against him was eventually dismissed, Blair said Emeryville police refused to return his property, even after he got a court order in April. He said he had to threaten a lawsuit before police allowed him to retrieve the plants at noon Thursday.
But it appears that Blair's goods were long gone months before.
In May, Emeryville police Chief Ken James confirmed the city's Public Works storage building on Horton Street was broken into three or four months earlier and lots of equipment was stolen. The building also contains two locked police evidence cages to hold large items police don't have room to store. The pot plants and Blair's other property were inside.
The city suspected the theft might have been an inside job because the crooks knew the code. They also backed a truck inside and loaded it with chain saws, post hole diggers, pressure washers, generators and other equipment used by city workers. They cut the locks on the evidence cages and took three unclaimed big-screen televisions that were to be auctioned off, James said.
They took a lot of the marijuana cultivation equipment but left the plants, which James described last May as "dead ... little seedlings with 6 to 12 inches of growth." He said the plants weren't watered, and they died.
But Blair said the plants were about 3 feet high and a week or two from harvest, so somebody must have snipped off the tops and left the rest to dry up.
Whatever the case, Blair will have to estimate the loss and submit a claim to the city attorney, James said. "I'm sure that if a claim is filed, the city would make good on it, but they have ... to go through government claim procedures, and then the City Council has to approve and act on the claim," James said.
William Dolphin, spokesman for Americans for Safe Access, a medical marijuana advocacy group, said the seizure of medical marijuana continues to be a problem around the state, and cities need to create policies that protect patients.
"We need to point out that they shouldn't be doing that," Dolphin said. "It costs taxpayers money, in addition to causing pain for patients."
Note: Cops say patient's equipment stolen when thieves raid locker.
Source: Alameda Times-Star (CA)
Author: Cecily Burt, Staff Writer
Published: Saturday, September 25, 2004
Copyright: 2004 MediaNews Group, Inc.
Website: https://www.timesstar.com/
Contact: triblet@angnewspapers.com
Blair was arrested Dec. 12 after police officers serving a search warrant at his Emeryville apartment found about 30 marijuana plants, growing lights and other indoor cultivation equipment.
Blair said he had a prescription from his doctor for marijuana because he broke his neck and needs the medicinal herb for chronic pain and to help him sleep.
He was released after posting bail but rearrested a few days later and charged with possession with intent to distribute marijuana.
Although the case against him was eventually dismissed, Blair said Emeryville police refused to return his property, even after he got a court order in April. He said he had to threaten a lawsuit before police allowed him to retrieve the plants at noon Thursday.
But it appears that Blair's goods were long gone months before.
In May, Emeryville police Chief Ken James confirmed the city's Public Works storage building on Horton Street was broken into three or four months earlier and lots of equipment was stolen. The building also contains two locked police evidence cages to hold large items police don't have room to store. The pot plants and Blair's other property were inside.
The city suspected the theft might have been an inside job because the crooks knew the code. They also backed a truck inside and loaded it with chain saws, post hole diggers, pressure washers, generators and other equipment used by city workers. They cut the locks on the evidence cages and took three unclaimed big-screen televisions that were to be auctioned off, James said.
They took a lot of the marijuana cultivation equipment but left the plants, which James described last May as "dead ... little seedlings with 6 to 12 inches of growth." He said the plants weren't watered, and they died.
But Blair said the plants were about 3 feet high and a week or two from harvest, so somebody must have snipped off the tops and left the rest to dry up.
Whatever the case, Blair will have to estimate the loss and submit a claim to the city attorney, James said. "I'm sure that if a claim is filed, the city would make good on it, but they have ... to go through government claim procedures, and then the City Council has to approve and act on the claim," James said.
William Dolphin, spokesman for Americans for Safe Access, a medical marijuana advocacy group, said the seizure of medical marijuana continues to be a problem around the state, and cities need to create policies that protect patients.
"We need to point out that they shouldn't be doing that," Dolphin said. "It costs taxpayers money, in addition to causing pain for patients."
Note: Cops say patient's equipment stolen when thieves raid locker.
Source: Alameda Times-Star (CA)
Author: Cecily Burt, Staff Writer
Published: Saturday, September 25, 2004
Copyright: 2004 MediaNews Group, Inc.
Website: https://www.timesstar.com/
Contact: triblet@angnewspapers.com
