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Seattlest Pix 09Nov06
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After a possibly illegal Tuesday raid on an office providing care, resources, and referrals to medicinal marijuana patients, Seattle Police have agreed to return patient files and a computer hard drive that were taken during the incident. The SPD does, however, refuse to return 12 ounces of dried marijuana and two bongs they seized Tuesday. Police have told Martin Martinez, owner of the office that was raided, that he will not be facing criminal charges and that the investigation was closed.
To which we say, we certainly hope so. And we hope the police, when they are forced to do so by a judge, return all 12 ounces of medical marijuana to Martinez. Because, as far as we can tell, he did nothing illegal. Maybe the SPD has forgotten--it has almost been 10 years--but Washington residents and lawmakers voted in favor of medicinal marijuana. Just a few weeks ago, the governor (with the help of law enforcement) decided that an individual in Washington could legally possess 24 ounces of medical marijuana. Mr Martinez is well under that mark, with only half of the allowed amount, and the authorities should know better than to claim he's out of bounds.
Medical marijuana is one of those hot-button issues in America and politics where, if you are on one side, it is nearly impossible to see the logic or rationale in the other. We know we're biased. As someone who lived with a dear friend as they were battling cancer and suffering from the brutal side effects of chemo, no police officer or frightened governor will ever be able to convince us that marijuana is not an amazing, priceless medicine. Despite ever-rising addiction rates and deaths from over-the-counter medications, you don't see the cops raiding hospital pharmacies and denying people their pills. It's time the SPD showed medical marijuana patients and providers the same respect. In fact, in Washington State, it's the law.
Image courtesy of NORML's Flickr
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It would be one thing if it was some drone Federals crashing down the doors but that it was our own state/city police, who are supposed to be PROTECTING these laws is rather disturbing.
Poor form SPD, poor form.
Wait, I don't get it.
What is the cause for not returning the pot? If they aknowledge that no crime was committed, then don't they then have to return it?
Seems to me that if the pot isn't returned, then the only crime committed in this whole ordeal was theft.
A federal judge on Thursday sentenced a California medical marijuana dispensary owner to a reduced term of a year and a day in prison in one of America's first cases since the Obama administration adjusted federal policy.
U.S. District Judge George Wu found that the case of Charles Lynch, 47, merited an exception to a mandatory minimum five-year sentence that guidelines called for.
Lynch was convicted of five marijuana-related offenses for running a medical marijuana dispensary collective in San Luis Obispo County.
He sought leniency after U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced earlier this year that federal agents will now target marijuana distributors only when they violate both federal and state laws. Holder, however, didn't indicate how the new approach would affect pending cases like Lynch's.
Lynch's case became a rallying point for advocates who believe pending cases in California and a dozen other states that allow medical marijuana use should be dismissed after Holder's remarks.
In all, the judge imposed three one-year sentences but said they would run concurrently.
Lynch, who ran a marijuana dispensary in Morro Bay on the central California coast, was convicted in August 2008 by a jury in Los Angeles for selling more than 100 kilograms (220 pounds) of marijuana.
For all who want to learn more about marijuana: therapeutic use, treatment and rehabilitation.