Pubdate: Tue, 02 Jan 2001
Source: Arcata Eye (US CA)
Copyright: 2001, Arcata Eye
Contact:  (707) 826-0161
Address: P.O. Box 451, Arcata, CA 95518 
Webform: http://www.arcataeye.com/comments/
Website: http://www.arcataeye.com/
Author: Frank Kitchen
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?115 (Cannabis - California)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)

MAKE POLICE RESPECT THE LAW

The fact that there is an economy developing around the medical cannabis
industry is viewed by many in law enforcement as a crime. 

Police do not currently understand the cost benefit to patients that is
created from cooperative cultivation of cannabis through a legal market.
There is no crime in having enough medicine, or in having "too much"
medicine, if it is legal to possess it. State law does not allow for such
crop size limitations. 

By seizing and destroying legitimate medical cannabis gardens, law
enforcement personnel are still forcing patients to fend for themselves in
the black market! This significantly raises the cost of legally approved
cannabis use to patients, thereby lowering their quality of life. 

We all lose faith in the authorities when they refuse to enact the peoples'
will. In our courts we have equality under the law. This sheriff's
department seems hell-bent on disregarding this law and instead has
aggressively targeted medical cannabis users as though they were criminals.

In truth, our sheriff (and any peace officers who ignore the clear intent of
the voters) should be brought before our courts and tried as the criminals
that they are. Let them lose their jobs and be forced to pay for their
misdeeds by spending some quality time in prison! They go beyond the pale in
their arrogance when not respecting the will of the people and the mandate
that we all explicitly expressed in the passage of the Compassionate Use Act
of 1996. 

At this time I would ask our magistrates and judges to takes some time to
assess the credibility of law enforcement actions when legal medicine is
seized where there is no intent to prosecute. 

Also, police should be restrained by the courts and ordered to be honest and
to report medical defense claims in their affidavits when they seek out a
search warrant for marijuana possession or cultivation.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Frank Kitchen, Arcata citizen and Humboldt Medical Cannabis Center member
#64
- ---
MAP posted-by: Doc-Hawk