cannabisnews.com: Theives In The Night





Theives In The Night
Posted by FoM on October 05, 2000 at 19:52:15 PT
By Wayne Laugesen 
Source: Boulder Weekly
Fred Hopson's head hurts so badly he'd like to lob it off. Furthermore, the government took his cars and wants to take his home. He's a casualty in the war on just plain folks, disguised as a war on drugs. It was 1996 and Hopson, 26 at the time, was scraping ice from the second floor windows of a building. He lost his balance and fell 26 feet, crushing his head on pavement below. His skull suffered 28 fractures, which he later learned saved his life. 
The brain swelling was so severe, and so immediate, that the pressure would have destroyed his brain had the fractures not allowed his skull to expand. Hopson spent nine days in a coma, then two months in the hospital. The brain damage was so severe he seemed like a child. He couldn't walk or talk much. He remembers a therapist teaching him how to turn on a shower, and telling him the difference between hot and cold water. After his release from the hospital, Hopson traveled to North Carolina. There, his twin brother and sister-in-law cared for him for the next 11 months. In North Carolina, Hopson's brother put his own busy life on hold to help out. He enrolled Hopson in one of the nation's best brain injury rehabilitation programs. "It was a very intensive brain rehab school," Hopson says. "I remember when they taught me what a face is. They showed me a picture of a face and spent a lot of time describing what it was, what it means and how it is used. Later I progressed to learning about phone books. Basically I was just re-learning a lot of things an adult needs to know." A year after his accident, Hopson was functioning much better. He could use faucets, showers, toilets, phones and walk around just fine. His head, however, was throbbing. He could feel nearly every fracture line. He suffered routing spasms near healed fractures. "I just can't describe the pain," Hopson says. "My head literally felt like it was 10 feet above my body most of the time." His doctor prescribed a variety of legal narcotic pain killers. Hopson's medicine cabinet became a drug addict's dream, full of varieties of codeine and muscle relaxants some of the world's most harmful and addictive drugs. They didn't help much, merely taking an edge off the pain. They left Hopson moody, drowsy and confused. He hated the pills. The Wonders of Pot: His brother did some research. He spoke with doctors and chronic pain patients. He read books and took to the Internet. In doing so, he learned that his twin might benefit from marijuana a drug that's illegal, but generally considered less harmful and addictive than legally prescribed narcotics. The brother procured marijuana, and Hopson smoked it. "My headache disappeared immediately," Hopson says. "For the first time since the accident, I didn't feel confused and crazy. The doctors had given me everything for pain, all sorts of different drugs with wicked side effects. None of them helped much, but the marijuana was doing miracles." Hopson immediately told his physician at the brain rehab clinic. "This doctor loved me," Hopson says. "We had become very close. I was going to take his advice, whatever it was. When I told him marijuana was working, all he said was 'Don't use alcohol.' He said nothing about the marijuana. He just continually warned me against using alcohol, which was no problem at all because I don't like alcohol." In 1997, after completing his brain rehabilitation, Hopson moved back to the mountains of Colorado with the goal of leading a normal life. He could no longer work construction or other physically demanding jobs. So he took full-time work as a host at the Blue Moose restaurant in Breckenridge. Although medical insurance paid his $250,000 hospital bill, it did not cover the full cost of Hopson's rehabilitation. The company he was working for when he fell did not have workers' compensation insurance, so he was forced to sue them in an effort to pay the rehab bill. In the spring of 1999, the case was settled and Hopson received $150,000 in excess of the rehabilitation cost. His lawyer took half of that. Hopson used his half responsibly. He put $43,000 down on a $143,000 home in Mosquito Gulch, just outside of Alma. He bought a 1994 Toyota pickup, and he paid off some debts. To pay the monthly $1,000 mortgage on his home, Hopson found a better job doing maintenance at a fancy Breckenridge hotel. This week, the hotel named him "Employee of the Month" for finding ways to take recycling efforts to new heights. "I frequently will pull stuff out of dumpsters so it can be recycled," Hopson says. "The management decided to reward me for it." A Wonderful Life: Hopson's life seems ideal. He survived what should have been a fatal fall on his head. He recovered nicely from a coma and near-vegetative state. He's engaged to a woman he loves. He has $50,000 equity in his home and paid cash for his truck. But there's a crowbar in it. Local cops took the truck this summer, along with a few older cars Hopson kept on his property. And now the cops and Park County prosecutors are working hard to take Hopson's home. If they get it, the two agencies will share proceeds from the sale. They're destroying Hopson's life because they found him growing marijuana in the basement of his home. He needs the drug to avoid being dazed and confused on narcotic pain killers known to rot the liver. "To buy marijuana, I was going to have to deal in some sort of black market of drug dealers and spend something like $200 per week," Hopson says. "So I grew it myself." Only a handful of friends, he insists, knew about the plants. He suspects a friend told a friend, and word spread to law enforcement. The Park County Sheriff's Department's Special Response Team euphemism for SWAT raided Hopson's home at 5:30 am Aug. 4. Hopson and his fiancee, 25-year-old Shannon Scott, were naked and asleep in bed. They awoke to three loud knocks on the door. "Before we could even respond, they opened the door and stormed our home," Hopson says. Eight cops with assault rifles stormed up the stairs, decked out in camouflage, helmets and bullet proof vests. The assault rifles had flashlights mounted like bayonets near the ends of the barrels. "I'm standing there naked, and one offers sticks a f -ing gun with a light right in my face," Hopson says. "They stand my fiancee up naked and stare at her. They tried to force her out of the house nude in handcuffs." Scott convinced the officers to allow her to at least put on some clothes. As she dressed, $35 in cash fell from a pocket. The officers took it. Soldier-like deputies confiscated a chain saw. They took an old truck used to plow Hopson's driveway. They took the couple's birth certificates and drivers' licenses. It was an orgy of confiscation, or "forfeiture" in cop talk. During the raid, Hopson recognized one of the officers. He'd attended a benefit event for Hopson after the accident. "That officer knew about Hopson's condition, and he knew that Hopson's marijuana was for medicinal purposes," says Hopson's lawyer, Dennis Blewitt of Boulder. "Yet he went along with this raid as if my client were a common criminal." Hopson is anything but a menace to society. He's disabled, yet insists on working to support himself. He's "Employee of the Month." He's so well liked that friends and neighbors threw a benefit last weekend to help with his legal fees. Public Menace: Yet prosecutors insist the home must be confiscated because it's a "public menace." They insist Hopson was selling drugs. They took his vehicles claiming he used them to transport drugs. "I can't wait to see how they intend to prove that," Hopson says. "They won't find one single person whom I've sold marijuana to, because it did not happen." Following the raid and arrest, Hopson gave up smoking pot. "My head hurts so f -ing bad, I really can't even describe it," Hopson says. "The prescribed painkillers and muscle relaxants make me so foggy and groggy my fiancee barely recognizes me if I take them." None of this is about Hopson being a menace to society. He's under attack because the war on drugs is about power, control and money. The DA and the cops have a vested interest taking Hopson's home and cars. A victory means cold hard cash. It's how law enforcement is funded these days, and it makes prosecutors and cops accountable to no one. Less and less do law enforcement leaders have to beg politicians for funds. Instead, they can simply take property and cash if someone is growing pot even to treat severe headaches. The practice reduces purse string controls by elected officials and gives law enforcement free reign to commit atrocities against the American people. Look no further than Alma for proof. Cops attacked and looted in a scene that's common today because the drug laws allow police and prosecutors to raise money that way. The cops looked like soldiers and used military tactics because the secret is out: They're at war with the public. Let the Park County DA know how you feel! Call 719-836-2080. Wayne Laugesen can be reached at: Wayne Laugesen.com or 303-499-4187.Direct Link To Above Article:http://www.boulderweekly.com/waynesword.htmlSource: Boulder Weekly (CO)Author: Wayne Laugesen Published: September 28 - October 4, 2000 © 2000 Boulder WeeklyContact: letters boulderweekly.comAddress: 690 South Lashley Lane Boulder, CO, 80303Fax: (303) 494-2585Website: http://www.boulderweekly.com/Related Articles & Web Site:Coloradans For Medical Rights http://www.medicalmarijuana.com/Medical Marijuana Arrest of Breckenridge Manhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread6984.shtmlCannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archives:http://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml
Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help




Comment #6 posted by freedom fighter on October 06, 2000 at 08:17:34 PT
Poll on medicial marijuana 
Please take a moment and vote the poll YES!Currently   78%Check it under the section of Opinion and Feedbackshttp://www.denverpost.com/
[ Post Comment ]

Comment #5 posted by dansemy on October 06, 2000 at 07:26:32 PT:
Vote Green!
Libertarians are fine but Green party stands for the environment AND people's rights. Register and vote Green!
[ Post Comment ]

Comment #4 posted by Kanabys on October 06, 2000 at 06:45:01 PT
Sad, but Outragous
This story sickened me to the bone. These people were real threats to the community, huh? Sheesh....  This is truly a domestic war, but one side is armed to the teeth and the other isn't. Only in AMERIKA!! >> During the raid, Hopson recognized one of the officers. He'd attended a benefit event for Hopson after the accident That's kinda hard to believe but I guess loyalties or friendships just aren't existant. Some want to keep their jobs and make a profit rather than stand up and do the moral thing.>> Only a handful of friends, he insists, knew about the plants. He suspects a friend told a friend, and word spread to law enforcement. This really SUCKS!!! I guess you can't trust ANYONE these days, especially when it comes to their holy WoD!! My suggestion to anyone who is growing their own medicine is don't even tell your DOG!! Pax Sempiterna
[ Post Comment ]

Comment #3 posted by Frank on October 06, 2000 at 05:48:16 PT
U.S. Government Hatred and Revenge
A typical story of government hatred and revenge, you can take all the morphine pills or oxycodone tablets the doctors give you but don’t smoke marijuana for pain relief (non-addictive pain relief!)It’s time that the people of America said No to these bastards and stood up to them. 
[ Post Comment ]

Comment #2 posted by Ethan Russo, MD on October 06, 2000 at 04:32:46 PT:
Sickening Story
I have a pretty strong stomach, even at 5 in the morning, but this is more than I can handle. Our society has to recognize the inequity, immorality and waste of policies that allow this miscarriage of justice and persecution of an innocent and heroic person trying to pursue a normal life.  The following are offered with the hope that they will be of some help to those who need to provide "proof" of the medical benefits of cannabis.URL’s of Interest to Clinical Cannabis by or about Ethan Russo:Formatted Pain article, 1998 (need Adobe Acrobat Reader):http://www.druglibrary.org/crl/pain/Russo%2098%20Migraine_%20Pain.pdfUnformatted Article:http://www.teleport.com/~omr/omr_russo.htmlMAPS Site:http://maps.org/mmj/mjrusso.htmlUSAToday.com article:http://www.usatoday.com/life/health/doctor/lhdoc227.htmMedical Cannabis Quarterly (Australia) article:http://members.nbci.com/jackalmedia/mcq/mcq.htmlChronicle Article:http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/5/thread5889.shtmlWashington Times letter:http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/5/thread5197.shtmlReuters Health:http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/5/thread5889.shtml
[ Post Comment ]

Comment #1 posted by military officer guy on October 05, 2000 at 21:44:42 PT
this is totally f #$ed up...
this is screwed up, it's not even funny...if we all want a true change, that is to vote Harry Browne in Nov...that is truly theonly way to get our personal freedoms back...i'm not throwing away my vote for someone whosupports tactics like that above...we can win this war...vote libertarian in nov...
[ Post Comment ]

Post Comment


Name: Optional Password: 
E-Mail: 
Subject: 
Comment: [Please refrain from using profanity in your message]
Link URL: 
Link Title: