When it comes to cops and medical marijuana laws, it's not too hard to understand why many of them go cross-eyed and stuttery with confusion and frustration. It's bad enough for them that in states where it's OK to toke up to relieve symptoms of pain and suffering that they are getting their walking orders from the citizens who wrote the laws -- the people they used to bust, in other words -- and not from their long-time chums in the state house. Seeing marijuana openly for sale in storefronts, or growing strong in someone's basement rec room, is an affront to everything the Cop Mind holds sacred, a violation of their sense of Right and Wrong.
What's worse for them are the hidden provisions in many of these laws that turn pique into humiliation. In Colorado, for instance, the state medical marijuana law requires cops to preserve and care for evidence when they raid a house or a dispensary and the suspect claims a medical marijuana defense. That means they can't destroy the pot they confiscate or uproot the plants. In fact, if they're to follow the law as written and passed by citizens, they need to water and feed those plants in the event they have to return them.
This prospect is a mortal horror to lawmen who've sworn to do their level best to rid the land of narcotics. My local sheriff in Larimer County, a colorful old timer who seems to have modeled his approach to law enforcement on the writings of Zane Grey, keeps a lively blog about his views on crime and could barely contain himself while writing about this requirement in 2008:
"How in the world are we supposed to fertilize, water and grow thousands of plants? We don't have the personnel, space, resources or time to operate a full-blown greenhouse (even if we used inmate labor, which would be ill advised). Then if the District Attorney decides not to prosecute or can't due to some technical issue that has nothing to do with the medical use claim, we have to return the live plants, thus committing a federal crime. Ouch! Talk about a no win situation."
Well, the law is the law, and Colorado has seen numerous instances where defendants acquitted of drug charges have left the county courthouse after their trial carrying, in some cases, pounds of marijuana with them from the evidence room. Witnessing something like that is enough to make a cop cry.
And now there's this new twist from Montana, where debate over the future of its MMJ law is reaching a fever pitch -- cops are actually being asked to hand deliver marijuana directly to its owner, a 180-degree reversal of what a cop would normally do at the home of a pot grower. It seems that many caregivers turn to FedEx and UPS to deliver their goods to patients. But wary of federal prosecution for drug trafficking, the delivery services turn the packages over to the local police department when it suspects they contain marijuana ... and that requires a detective to track down the pot's rightful owner and, in some cases, personally return it to them.
This is understandably awkward for everyone involved. Imagine being the grower or patient and finding a police detective on your doorstep acting as a glorified parcel boy and handing you a bale of marijuana. Should you tip him, like you would the pizza guy? Now imagine being the detective; the only thing more humiliating would be if the law also required him to wash the marijuana person's car before he leaves.
"We don't want to be in the middle as a broker," said Billings Police Chief Rich St. John to the Billings Gazette. "We're wasting a lot of time investigating and looking into legitimate businesses."
NewsHawk: Ganjarden: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: dscriber
Author: Greg Campbell
Contact: dscriber
Copyright: 2010 dscriber
Website: Why enforcing some medical marijuana laws can be a cop's worst nightmare
What's worse for them are the hidden provisions in many of these laws that turn pique into humiliation. In Colorado, for instance, the state medical marijuana law requires cops to preserve and care for evidence when they raid a house or a dispensary and the suspect claims a medical marijuana defense. That means they can't destroy the pot they confiscate or uproot the plants. In fact, if they're to follow the law as written and passed by citizens, they need to water and feed those plants in the event they have to return them.
This prospect is a mortal horror to lawmen who've sworn to do their level best to rid the land of narcotics. My local sheriff in Larimer County, a colorful old timer who seems to have modeled his approach to law enforcement on the writings of Zane Grey, keeps a lively blog about his views on crime and could barely contain himself while writing about this requirement in 2008:
"How in the world are we supposed to fertilize, water and grow thousands of plants? We don't have the personnel, space, resources or time to operate a full-blown greenhouse (even if we used inmate labor, which would be ill advised). Then if the District Attorney decides not to prosecute or can't due to some technical issue that has nothing to do with the medical use claim, we have to return the live plants, thus committing a federal crime. Ouch! Talk about a no win situation."
Well, the law is the law, and Colorado has seen numerous instances where defendants acquitted of drug charges have left the county courthouse after their trial carrying, in some cases, pounds of marijuana with them from the evidence room. Witnessing something like that is enough to make a cop cry.
And now there's this new twist from Montana, where debate over the future of its MMJ law is reaching a fever pitch -- cops are actually being asked to hand deliver marijuana directly to its owner, a 180-degree reversal of what a cop would normally do at the home of a pot grower. It seems that many caregivers turn to FedEx and UPS to deliver their goods to patients. But wary of federal prosecution for drug trafficking, the delivery services turn the packages over to the local police department when it suspects they contain marijuana ... and that requires a detective to track down the pot's rightful owner and, in some cases, personally return it to them.
This is understandably awkward for everyone involved. Imagine being the grower or patient and finding a police detective on your doorstep acting as a glorified parcel boy and handing you a bale of marijuana. Should you tip him, like you would the pizza guy? Now imagine being the detective; the only thing more humiliating would be if the law also required him to wash the marijuana person's car before he leaves.
"We don't want to be in the middle as a broker," said Billings Police Chief Rich St. John to the Billings Gazette. "We're wasting a lot of time investigating and looking into legitimate businesses."
NewsHawk: Ganjarden: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: dscriber
Author: Greg Campbell
Contact: dscriber
Copyright: 2010 dscriber
Website: Why enforcing some medical marijuana laws can be a cop's worst nightmare
