Ninja smoker brought this case to my attention via his stoner friendly links, and I thought that I needed to do some clarification. There was a landmark case in Washington State yesterday that was decided at the State Supreme Court level (see attached article and ninja smoker’s link). Essentially, the court said a doctor’s permission to use medical marijuana doesn’t preclude police from arresting a patient or searching a home. In normal language, this means that a medical marijuana card is not enough to stop the cops from searching your home and taking your medicine. Cops have what is called ‘prosecutorial discretion,’ which basically means that they can make a judgment call at anytime, and arrest you and take your stuff. It is up to their ‘discretion.’ The justices said Washington’s law only allows patients to present a medical marijuana defense at trial, and does not protect them from arrest or searches. Remember this point when you read my next paragraph, as you can use the justice’s own logic against them.
Law enforcement has always had this, and this case in Washington does not add or take away from that at all. In essence, nothing has changed. Now pay attention, because this next part is important. All administrative law students know that law enforcement can do as they please, until it gets to trial, and the case is thrown out. AT THIS POINT, A CIVIL LAWSUIT IS A MUST. Yes your medicine is gone, yes you were incarcerated, yes you had to pay for a lawyer, HOWEVER, you will be paid 100 times the amount that you are out, both in time and in medicine. To deprive a sick patient of legal medicine, regardless of what kind of medicine, is borderline torture. You can sure for false arrest, defamation of character, unlawfully disclosing medical records, police brutality, etc.
I know this is probably not a consolation to the first person that has to jump on the grenade, but he who walks thru the fire will be rewarded. And after that, you can rest assured, it will never happen again, and law enforcement will be walking on eggshells. Of course, if you are like the guy in the article, and you fraudulently obtained your medical marijuana card, you are SOL, and should be beat up for giving law abiding card holders a bad name. Since this case was decided at the Washington State Supreme Court level, it is only binding in the State of Washington.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/21/AR2010012102641.html
