Medical Marijuana Patients Fight For Seized Property

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NEWS ADVISORY – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MEDIA CONTACT: William Dolphin (510) 919-1498 Dozens of Medical Marijuana

Patients Fighting for Seized Property Statewide

Activists Release Report on Police Abuses Monday; Coordinate Mass Court Action

Tuesday

 

 

CALIFORNIA (Friday, August 13) – Medical marijuana patients want their medicine

back. Too often, according to a report by an advocacy group to be released

Monday, local and state law enforcement is seizing the marijuana to which

patients are legally entitled – and not giving it back. On Tuesday, more than

three-dozen patients across the state will be in their respective county

courthouses filing motions for return of nearly a million dollars worth of

marijuana.

 

The report and mass court action have been put together by California-based

Americans for Safe Access, the largest national advocacy group working solely on

medical marijuana.

 

“The law protects these patients,” said the group’s legal coordinator, Kris

Hermes. “But we’ve uncovered a culture of resistance within law enforcement.

Many agencies across the state just don’t comply with the law. Patients are

being arrested or having their medicine seized in nearly every police

encounter.”

 

A recent Field poll shows that Prop. 215, the 1996 law that ensures the right of

patients to possess, use and cultivate marijuana, today has support of 4 in 5

voters. In January the legislature put into effect a new measure that expands

and clarifies that law, including provisions for an ID system that guarantees

freedom from arrest for qualifying patients.

 

Nonetheless, a three-month study conducted by Americans for Safe Access found

property and rights violations in more than half the counties in the state. And

even the California Highway Patrol has seized marijuana from authorized patients

and refused to return it.

 

Medical marijuana patients in California are being forced to file Motions for

Return of Property in criminal court to reclaim their marijuana. If the

marijuana has been destroyed or has deteriorated, the local government is

responsible for compensating the patient for the value of the property lost or

rendered unusable. The value of the property being sought Tuesday is estimated

at nearly $1 million.

 

“Losing their medicine is obviously hard on the patients,” said Hermes. “But

it’s also costing taxpayers money. Better law enforcement policies, or any

policies at all, can fix this.”

 

The study to be released Monday found that most law enforcement agencies in

California do not have policies for identifying patients legally entitled to

have marijuana. Estimated annual cost of compensating patients whose marijuana

is seized is more than $4 million.

 

# # #

 

 

For interviews or more information, contact William Dolphin at (510) 919-1498. A

national, grassroots coalition of 10,000 patients, doctors and advocates,

Americans for Safe Access is the largest organization working solely on medical

marijuana.

 

 

 

http://pets.care2.com/

 

http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com

 

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