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