California Courts Order Police
To Return Medical Marijuana In Two Different Cases;
State Supreme Court Unanimous
(Marijuananews note: This ruling and the
election of an new Attorney General -- who has said he favors Prop 215 and will actually
uphold rather than subvert the state's laws -- places California on a collision course
with the Federal government. As the state’s attorney claimed, the police are in
effect being order to break federal laws by not depriving people of their medicine.)POLICE
MUST RETURN SEIZED MEDICAL MARIJUANA
See
Mendocino Medical
Marijuana Users Persecuted By Police Demand Return Of Seized Medicine
November 5, 1998
From the Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Police who seized a Mendocino County
couple’s medical marijuana must obey a court order to give it back, despite a state
lawyer’s claim that the order requires the officers to act as drug pushers.
That was the verdict Wednesday from the state Supreme Court, which unanimously
denied review of the officers’ appeal.
Sheriff’s deputies called to the scene of a domestic dispute at a Willits home
last year saw some seedlings and about a half pound of processed marijuana, and returned
with a search warrant to confiscate the drugs.
But charges of cultivation and possession for sale were dropped
when the couple, Christopher Brown and Dorlissa Perrine, produced doctors’ notes
saying they needed marijuana for physical ailments.
Medical marijuana was legalized
in California by a 1996 initiative, Proposition 215, although it remains illegal under
federal law.
Superior Court Judge Joseph Orr ordered the officers to return the marijuana and was
upheld by higher courts, despite objections from the state attorney general’s office.
In a state Supreme Court Appeal, Deputy Attorney General Michael O’Reilley said
the judge’s order requires the officers—who are not "caregivers" under
Proposition 215 -- to furnish a federally banned substance to private citizens.
The order "commands law enforcement to commit a federal
crime," O’Reilley wrote.
Neither O’Reilley nor the couple’s lawyer, Hannah Nelson, could be reached
for comment Wednesday.
The case is People vs. Superior Court (Brown), S072997.
Copyright: 1998 Associated Press.
(Marijuananews note: the fact that this occurred in Orange County is significant.)
Asthmatic Gets Pot Back... - (HUNTINGTON BEACH) -- An Orange County Municipal Court
judge is ordering the police to give marijuana back to an asthmatic man. The ruling comes
two years after the passage of Proposition 215... which allows pot for medical purposes. Eugene Victor’s doctor had recommended marijuana for treatment of his
asthma. The marijuana, confiscated by Huntington Beach police, was returned to Victor
yesterday.
Copyright: States News Service
Supported