Thursday, January 17, 2008

Government sued for street value of pot This one's been sitting on my desktop for a week, but I didn't want to let it go by... You know how the government always brags about how much marijuana it seized in a bust by assigning the highest possible street value for every bit of it? This could come back to bite them. Dickes, a 38-year-old Desert Shield Marine who suffers from debilitating pain after catching grenade shrapnel in the Gulf, says he was treated worse by Colorado police than by anyone in Iraq. In April, 2007 officers raided his home after receiving a tip from a neighbor and, according to his lawyer Robert J. Corry Jr., threw the disabled veteran to the ground, held him at gunpoint and ransacked his home. They found 71 marijuana plants, at least 65 of which they confiscated illegally, and they charged Dickes with felony cultivation. After eight months of legal wrangling, the Arapahoe County district attorney dismissed the charges, determining that Dickes was in fact a certified grower. But, by then, his plants were long dead. Thanks to a referendum passed in 2000, Article XVIII, Section 14 of the Colorado State Constitution stipulates that "any property... used in connection with the medical use of marijuana... shall not be harmed, neglected, injured, or destroyed while in the possession of state or local law enforcement officials." Not being equipped with the growroom or know-how to maintain them, Aurora police simply uprooted the plants and threw them in the evidence room. So Dickes is planning on suing the suburb of Aurora for over $360,000 in damages. 9:40:59 AM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []

Gee, who'd have thought that people would be angry? It appears at this point that are attempting to properly investigate the shooting of Tarika Wilson by police in a drug raid. And Attorney General Marc Dann even went personally to talk with members of the community. Angry members. He deserves credit for that. And it was probably good for him to do that. Because it helped highlight a critical point (one brought about by the drug war). Attorney General Marc Dann also pledged to take a closer look at relations between police and the community after hearing from dozens of people who said they don't trust the city's officers. "This is not a problem that is unique to Lima," Dann said. "It is an unacceptable state of affairs that this many people in any community feels they aren't protected by the police." [...] He tried to assure residents there will be a thorough investigation. Still, he was surprised by the amount of anger he faced. "Clearly, this struck a chord in this community," he said 9:26:44 AM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []