Posted: 3/9/2005 1:57:29 PM EDT
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Man Gets Apology From Police As They Return His Marijuana Thomas Lawrence Has Permit To Use Marijuana For Medicinal Purposes UPDATED: 9:16 am EST March 9, 2005 DENVER -- A man who was stopped by Denver police and had his marijuana confiscated received an apology recently because that man was allowed to smoke the pot for medicinal purposes. Thomas Lawrence can legally smoke pot because he has a permit to use it for medicinal purposes. Thomas Lawrence is among the first to take advantage of Colorado's law that allows marijuana to be used like a prescription drug. Lawrence, who has chronic back pain and rheumatoid arthritis, got his marijuana back along with an apology from police. "It's more of a victory for the people who actually voted for it, and the rest of the patients to know that the law actually worked. They don't have to be as concerned about what's going to happen if a cop pulls them over. Tell them you're a patient, show them your ID, show them your permit," said Lawrence. His case was a first for Denver officers. "This is the first time that drugs have been released to anyone" by the Denver Police Department, Detective Teresa Garcia said last week. Because marijuana possession is illegal, except in this case, officers suggest medical marijuana users keep their permit with them at all times. The feds should charge the cops with distributing. whether the pot was lawfully possessed or not, the cops are no licensed to distribute marijuana or "medicine." |
Distribution? So if I had an Oxycontin scrip and the cops seized the bottle they could be charged for giving it back because they aren't a licensed pharmicy? What if I had a legal Class III seized? Could they return that to me without going thru a dealer? Would they have to pay a transfer tax? How about this: the guy legally possessed the weed and the cops took it from him without his permission. We'll charge them with theft.  |
Yup. But I think a lot of government employees face losing jobs if they legalise it. Wasn't the NFA passed so that the ATF agents could stay employed after prohibition ended? |
Some say it was. Unfortunately the War on Drugs is a $19b a year industry. |
Government employees? What about the lawyers, man??? Do it for the lawyers! |
They didnt pick up his weed then hand it back. They seized it as evidence, booked it, then days later gave it back. Many California LE agencies have refused to return "medical" marijuana because they are not licensed to distribute. So far the courts have been very supportive of this. Any police officer who delivered marijuana to a suspect would be in violation of both state and federal law. I would refuse if given such an order. "Sorry boss, you hand it to him." |
We do not return seized RX meds, under any circumstance. When firearms are returned the owner must go through the background check and pay DROS fee's. There are specificl sections of state law that exempt us from involving a transfer dealer, or else yes, they would have to. no such exemptions exist for RX drugs or illegal drugs. |
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Medical marijauna would have a lot more legitimacy if it wasn't represented by such idiots. I have seen at all of the local protests the sharing of joints. If it's a prescription, they shouldn't be sharing it, just like you shouldn't give me any of your vicodin or morphine. I don't give a crap if someone smokes dope. Just don't drive or operate heavy equipment or shoot, in any way endanger other people's lives, etc. We may as well derive some tax benefit from dope. Because it has, is and always will be here to stay. If you eliminate dope, man will just use something else. However, I believe that other, harder drugs should be strictly controlled. |
And you have how many cops in the clink for doing drug reverses? Hmmm? I'm betting that the exemption that allows that, like most of them, exempts conduct undertaken for "legitimate law enforcement purposes." That would include returning wrongfully siezed property. More to the point, and regardless of any exemption for police handling, the drugs (pot or vicodin) are not contraband if they are prescribed. Someone making decisions over there is full of shit and needs suing, badly, since precisely the point you make is that your agency insists upon the "right" to illegally seize lawful property with neither a penalty nor an obligation to return the property. Fun lawsuits. |
I do not understand the question. I am unfamiliar with the term "drug-reverses." is that something like a controlled buy or a buy bust? |
AR15fan, Along the same lines: If I defend my family with an AR and I shoot an armed intruder doing so will the cops take my AR and will there be a lot of BS to get it back? CO has the "make my day" law where you're supposed to be able to defend your home. Do you know? |
That makes no sense at all. You are returning what you shouldn't have taken in the first place. |
Federal law does not allow medical marijuana. This would be like the cops seizing a sawed off shotgun in a state that doesnt have a state law regulating them. Because of the federal law banning them, the state cops are not going to give it back. |
We reimburse people for all kinds of stuff. We have a whole risk management department that writes checks all day for everything from broken windhields to misplaced personal items. |
Ahh. In that case it would have been the $1,000/oz baggie of hydroponic chronic that was unlawfully siezed in violation of the peaceful and lawful owner's 4th Amendment Constitutional rights. So sayeth the judge, so sayeth the law. Any other taxpayers out there fed up with the whole War on Drugs (tm) racket?  First we have to hire cops and build jails to enforce mary jane laws. Then we have to reimburse citizens who are inconvenienced by enforcement. This is getting ridiculous. It takes lifetimes of incompetence to come up with systems like this. |
| I know a guy here in CO with terminal brain cancer that has a medicinal marijuana card. They are NOT easy to get. You can't drive under the influence of it but you can legally carry it in your car, just like you can legally carry a bottle of Vicoden in your car. Makes sense. |
they weren't distributing pot, they were giving that citizen his property back. glad to see the correct outcome. surely if he was " impared" in the slightest, they would have arrested him. Chris |
sounds like the airport. Chris |
Although I suspect they are allowed by state law, my agency does not do them, ever. |
Do you believe a lot of people are locked up in jail for simple possessioj of personal use marijuana? Is your state one of the very few that still gives jail time for pot? |
