Lifestyle > Train of Thought
Should we legalize drugs?
Now_Im_Not_Banned:
SweetHomeNews.com (OR)
-DEA Seizes Marijuana Plants from Medical Permit Holder-
A Linn County man announced he was going to sue the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the Valley Interagency Narcotics Team after a federal agent seized plants from his state-licensed marijuana garden.
Leroy Stubblefield, 52, of 38785 Mountain Home Dr., between Sweet Home and Lebanon, is the first person to have the federal government seize state-licensed marijuana, according to the Portland-based Hemp and Cannabis Foundation.
DEA Assistant Special Agent Kenny Magee said it was not the first time the DEA has seized marijuana from persons with medical marijuana cards.
Stubblefield, a quadriplegic, and two of his caregivers, Scotty Russell and Clarence VanDehay have medical marijuana permits, which cost $150 each.
They are permitted up to 21 plants under state law. DEA Special Agent Michael Spasaro seized the 12 plants they had growing in a room in the basement.
On Sept. 23, at about noon, "I was still in bed about to get up," Stubblefield said. He normally sleeps late. "I heard the guys pull into the driveway."
Russell answered two officers, one identifying himself as a VALIANT officer, at the door and took them to talk to Stubblefield.
They said they received a tip that Stubblefield was growing 100 marijuana plants, Stubblefield said. They asked if they could see the plants.
"I told Scotty, go ahead and show them the plants," Stubblefield said. After Russell took the officers downstairs to the garden, he heard raised voices.
"Scotty came upstairs totally outraged and said they're going to take our plants," Stubblefield said. After he calmed Russell down, one of the two officers entered Stubblefield's bedroom and identified himself as DEA Special Agent Michael Spasaro. He told Stubblefield he would be seizing the plants.
"He said we can do one of two things," Stubblefield said. "First, you're breaking federal law. It's against federal law ... and federal law overrides state law. One, we could take the plants and leave, or second, we can go and get a search warrant and come back."
If they returned with a search warrant, Stubblefield said, his home and lights could have been seized.
Stubblefield said he chose the first option, to give up the plants.
"I was totally dumbfounded," Stubblefield said. "I obviously told him take the plants. I was raised a law-abiding citizen. You give the law respect; it's a two-way street.... Scotty pulled all the plants for him and carried them out. We knew we were being violated.... We had a dirty taste in our mouths."
The VALIANT officers declined to seize the marijuana based on state law, Stubblefield said.
"It's federal law," Magee said. "To make a long story short, basically, the DEA is charged with enforcing federal law. It's nothing new. It's federal law and it's policy and the DEA is is required by federal law (to enforce the law). When congress changes that federal law, then we'll abide by whatever the law is changed to.... The whole message to be delivered here: It's federal law."
It is a federal law created and voted on by the citizens of the United States, Magee said. "The merits they work on deal a lot with the practices of the medical community and whether they view it (marijuana for example) as legitimate or not. With that being said, the DEA itself consistently recommends that studies be done on substances that may have medical use.... The medical community does allow a form of marijuana for pharmaceutical use. That is Marinol."
There are alternative medications available, Magee said. Legitimate medical associations, such as the American Medical Association, have not condoned the use of marijuana for medical purposes.
Stubblefield, Russell and VanDehay have not been charged for breaking federal law.
"Any investigation, we do," Magee said. Decisions on charges are handled by federal attorneys. In this case, it appears the offense did not reach the threshold for charges.
"We pay $150 per year for our protection," Russell said. "That VALIANT guy didn't do his job by telling him, no you can't take the plants. We're allowed the plants. For a federal agent to come in and take our plants ... I feel he robbed us, raped us.
"We the voters elected that to become law," Stubblefield said. On top of that, the federal government is fighting Oregon's assisted suicide law, which was approved twice by voters. "What does that say when the federal government says you can't do that. What's it going to take to get the government to listen to what we're saying?"
Paul Stanford of the Hemp and Cannabis Foundation, last week, contacted Russell for an unrelated reason. Russell related the story about the seizure to him.
"The next day, he came up and brought us some good smoke to help get by," Russell said. He also brought seven immature plants with him. They are about two to two and a half months from harvest.
Most of the seized plants were about a month from harvest. One was blooming, and one was curing.
Stubblefield said he uses marijuana to help his sleep apnea and post-traumatic stress syndrome. He was paralyzed in an automobile accident the day he returned from a tour of duty in Vietnam with the Coast Guard. He had another major automobile accident in 1997, and smoking marijuana helps reduce other medications he must take. He is more coherent on marijuana than on methadone, for example. He smoked marijuana occasionally from about 1978 to 1986 before using it under Oregon Medical Marijuana Act approved by voters in 1998.
Russell said he uses marijuana to help with his carpal tunnel. It helps keep the spasms down. Russell has smoked marijuana since he 15 or 16 years old.
Stubblefield has not filed suit yet. He plans to sue for the value of the lost plants and for mental damages.
Do you see? The guy had 100 plants, and the FEDERAL government had to come...Not only that, but the guy didn't even get in trouble, they simply seized his plants...Now say some more dumb shit for us to laugh at... :-X
Now_Im_Not_Banned:
How 'bout some more, you dumb piece of shit...
-Medical Pot User Accuses Feds Of Overstepping Authority-
Associated Press; April 1, 2004
A Colorado man has asked a judge to order the return of marijuana seized from him last year, the latest salvo in a high-profile clash of state and federal law over the use of pot to ease medical symptoms.
A federal drug task force seized the marijuana from Hayden resident Don Nord, 57, in October. Routt County Judge James Garrecht ordered the officers to return the marijuana and found them in contempt when they refused.
The case was taken to federal court in Denver. Officials with the Drug Enforcement Agency have said they had no intention of returning the drug.
While marijuana is illegal under federal law, state law allows the infirm to grow or smoke marijuana with a doctor's recommendation. Nord, who said he suffers from cancer and diabetes, has a state certificate to use the drug.
Nord's attorney, Kristopher Hammond, filed a motion Monday that says the government would be overstepping its bounds if allowed to keep the marijuana.
"Then Congress would be authorizing the federal government to reach into the state's administration of its laws, the private and personal decisions of sick and dying patients, their relationships with their physicians, and their compliance with a valid state law," he wrote.
The U.S. Attorney's Office has argued that federal law overrides state law when the two are in conflict.
Asked whether he thought the case could go to the U.S. Supreme Court, Hammond replied, "If neither side runs out of gas, it probably will."
Now_Im_Not_Banned:
Where are you? LMFAO...This is hilarious. Fuckin' pussy got told and has nothing to say...
--- Quote from: User on May 13, 2006, 01:07:17 AM ---^^Actually i was talking about the "Legalizing weed" thread
I bet you feel stupid as hell now
And NOW im done
The End
--- End quote ---
^^Yes. And I was talking about THAT thread...Why would you not reply to this thread just so "it won't keep going", yet you kept replying to the other thread? A classic sonning. Krondon's bridge is falling down... 8)
ZILLA THA GOODFELLA:
@user....I don't understand what you don't get about what he's saying. State cops don't deal with anything federal. So if a cop is arresting you for weed, he's acting upon a state law that states Marijuana is illegal. He doesn't have federal powers, so you will get tried in state court, not federal. Now if your state's laws permit Medical users with Cannabis cards to smoke weed legally, then a state cop will abide that, he has to. The only way you can get fucked with is if FBI shows up at your doorstep for a cannabis card. That's not likely ofcourse, I'd rather bet on a lotto ticket before that happens. This is simple shit, you got useless paragraphs of proving nothin because you're assuming the way it works when you haven't experienced it in the field first hand.
J Bananas:
--- Quote from: ZILLA THE GOODFELLA on May 17, 2006, 07:09:05 PM ---@user....I don't understand what you don't get about what he's saying. State cops don't deal with anything federal. So if a cop is arresting you for weed, he's acting upon a state law that states Marijuana is illegal. He doesn't have federal powers, so you will get tried in state court, not federal. Now if your state's laws permit Medical users with Cannabis cards to smoke weed legally, then a state cop will abide that, he has to. The only way you can get fucked with is if FBI shows up at your doorstep for a cannabis card. That's not likely ofcourse, I'd rather bet on a lotto ticket before that happens. This is simple shit, you got useless paragraphs of proving nothin because you're assuming the way it works when you haven't experienced it in the field first hand.
--- End quote ---
and there you go
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version