cannabisnews.com: Medical Marijuana Growers Payback





Medical Marijuana Growers Payback
Posted by CN Staff on December 05, 2007 at 07:53:17 PT
By Emil Steiner 
Source: Washington Post 
CO -- A Colorado couple is threatening to sue local law enforcement to get its bongs back -- as well as its marijuana plants, which they say they grew for medical purposes.According to their lawyer, James and Lisa Masters will be seeking "in excess of $100,000" from the Larimer County Drug Task Force, which illegally seized 39 plants and failed to preserve them. Under Article XVIII, Section 14 of the Colorado State Constitution, "any property ... used in connection with the medical use of marijuana... shall not be harmed, neglected, injured, or destroyed while in the possession of state or local law enforcement officials." 
The Constitution also reads in part: "Marijuana and paraphernalia seized by state or local law enforcement officials from a patient or primary care-giver ... shall be returned immediately."According to the Masters's lawyer, Brian Vicente of Sensible Colorado (which advocates "a system where drug use becomes a health issue, not a crime issue"), officers broke the law when they confiscated 39 plants, growing equipment, about eight ounces in loose marijuana and several bongs and pipes, in August 2006.The cultivation and possession charges were later dropped. In November Colorado Chief District Judge James Hiatt found that the Masters were legitimate caretakers who use the drugs to treat people and said law enforcement was wrong to seize their property. On Monday, the Masters picked up their property from the Fort Collins Police Department.But there was a problem.According to Vicente, the plants were all but dead, one having turned into a "moldy, black pool of goo." The glass bongs were also destroyed, their shattered remains handed back in plastic bags, and the couple is currently testing whether their grow equipment is still functional.Vicente's clients are seeking monetary compensation for their lost property, which is estimated at more than $100,000. We're "just asking police to follow the law," Vicente said. Fort Collins police spokeswomen Rita Davis says that the department was under no obligation to care for the Masters' plants or compensate the couple, saying the Masters were not registered care-givers with the state at the time of their arrest.The lawsuit may be filed next week. My question to OFF/beat readers is this: Given the requirements of state law, should police stations in Colorado be required to have grow rooms?Source: Washington Post (DC)Author:   Emil Steiner Published: December 5, 2007Copyright: 2007 Washington Post URL: http://tinyurl.com/23jwxtContact: letterstoed washpost.comWebsite: http://www.washingtonpost.com/ Related Articles & Web Site:Sensible Coloradohttp://www.sensiblecolorado.org/Compensation Sought for Dead Pot Plantshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread23527.shtmlPolice Return Dead Marijuana Plants To Couplehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread23525.shtml
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Comment #10 posted by OverwhelmSam on December 06, 2007 at 08:29:44 PT
Working To Instruct Law Enforcement
What we have here is a failure to communicate. Suing is the vehicle for reforming police attitudes. Law enforcement agencies have become the rebellous children of our country and they need to be instructed, and punished if necessary. These law suits, and many more like them, will help to raise our childish law enforcement agencies to behave with respect toward The People who choose to use marijuana. Sue, Sue, Sue!
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Comment #9 posted by FoM on December 06, 2007 at 06:37:41 PT
Hope
The Christmas Season is so slow for us here but I am busy with many different things. The Christmas Season has always been very difficult for me but not this year. We had about 6 inches of snow and the temperature dropped to 2 above last night. The snow is glistening this morning. I have hope this year. I'll keep looking for some interesting news but I haven't found anythng to post so far today.
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Comment #8 posted by Hope on December 06, 2007 at 05:57:49 PT
Extra Busy Day
I hope it was a good one."Let us then be up and doing.With a heart for any fate.Still achieving, still pursuing.Learn to labor and to wait."
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Comment #7 posted by FoM on December 05, 2007 at 21:14:26 PT
museman
I have been really busy and I haven't had much to say but I wanted to figure out who Jeff Tweedy was and I discovered Wilco. When I listened to song 11, I thought of you and I wanted to share it. I really like this music.http://wilcoworld.net/records/index.php
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Comment #6 posted by The GCW on December 05, 2007 at 20:47:03 PT
Death penalty seeking ignoids.
Florida dumbdumb's:Gov. Charlie Crist said "the state might want to ... seek the death penalty for cocaine traffickers who bring 300 kilograms of cocaine into the state."-0-So that means if a "cocaine trafficker" gets cornered and kills an officer, He wouldn't get it any more trouble... So why would the cocaine trafficer RISK n-o-t killing a cop?!?!?(I wonder if cops are smart enough to speak up against this???)http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n1410/a12.html?397-0-(About this thread) -Talk is cheap; START THE LEGAL PROCEEDINGS! Fire up the grill / stop the bad guys.
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Comment #5 posted by ripit on December 05, 2007 at 18:50:02 PT:
yes
if they go on arresting med users then they need to maintian grow rooms but i think it would be best if they just left us alone! save all that room in the evidence lockers for stolen goods,murder weapons and extra tear gas.
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Comment #4 posted by Hope on December 05, 2007 at 13:02:10 PT
"its"?
"A Colorado couple is threatening to sue local law enforcement to get its bongs back"."Its"? A "Couple" is a it?Is that condescension or a mistake?A couple's something would be "their" something. Wouldn't it?Or is it, that they just think any "couple" is an "it"?
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Comment #3 posted by Hope on December 05, 2007 at 11:24:25 PT
Nun of those bad habits
http://www.thedaily.com.au/news/2007/dec/05/nun-those-bad-habits/
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Comment #2 posted by museman on December 05, 2007 at 11:17:13 PT
accountability
We need to establish citizen/people organizations to counter all this waste, and abuse of power and authority. Citizen oversight committees, citizen watchdog committees to over see, report, and address the abominable actions of our various 'law' enforcement agencies.
Most of all we need a people run court that has the same powers as the lawyer/rich-mans court. Judges elected not by their 'law' experience, but by their grasp of humanity and common sense.The federal goverment is a monster that needs to be killed. Period. Killed, ended, squashed, disbanded...choose yer own description, but definitely not replaced with the same old Hillary's, Dillary's and Dicks. Business As Usual is getting us nowhere except deeper in the pit, and closer to the point that it absolutely too late to do anything but watch the opening scenes of Armageddon on the nightly news.WAKE UP AMERICA!
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Comment #1 posted by dongenero on December 05, 2007 at 09:41:59 PT
value of plants
This will be an interesting lawsuit.They should certainly use the same factors the government uses when they arrest someone and value the plants. Sounds right.As mykeyb420 pointed out in a previous thread, that is 1 pound per plant. Street value? I don't know...4-7k? Times 39 plants........$156,000-$273,000. Whew!That's going to impact the county budget. Of course the money comes from taxpayers and law enforcement will probably remain indignant. Taxpayers (voters) will have to apply pressure.
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