On Tuesday, a medical marijuana grower in Wallingford named Roger Spohn was raided by what appeared to be four FBI agents. He soon realized that the agents were actually robbers and called the police. When the police arrived, however, they confiscated most of his plants. Spohn is a registered medical marijuana patient who was maintaining a grow for multiple patients, something which is not allowed by state law but in recent years has been overlooked in King County according to attorney Douglas Hiatt.
When Washington’s medical marijuana law was being revised in 2008, this was one of the major concerns from the patient community. At the time, I’d spoken with individuals who had grown for patients who were either too ill or too frail to grow for themselves. Some of these folks were known by law enforcement to be growing for multiple patients, but were left alone because they weren’t selling to non-patients. Many were worried that codifying a specific plant limit would lead to situations like the one that happened on Tuesday. They were right. After the police came to his house, Spohn was left with only the state-mandated limit of 15 plants (out of the nearly 200 he’d been growing).
At this point, I can’t say for sure whether or not Spohn was diverting any of his grow output to non-patients, but I’ve known Douglas Hiatt long enough that I’d be surprised if he stood up for a grower who was doing that. Most growers are patients themselves and worry greatly about going to jail. And Spohn hasn’t been charged with anything, meaning that the police don’t have any evidence that Spohn was diverting any of his supply. Hopefully, SPD is more concerned with finding the robbers who are not only guilty of breaking and entering and theft, but also of impersonating law enforcement.
If the police are unable to prove that Spohn wasn’t just growing for authorized patients in this state, SPD should return his plants. That’s not a legal judgement on my part, it’s a pragmatic one. Medical marijuana patients who were relying on Spohn for their medicine are now going to have to find alternative avenues. For a city that is so concerned with street dealers and gang violence, this was an incredibly short-sighted move by those officers. They just gave some very brazen criminals a larger customer base along with their stolen goods. To believe that that move couldn’t come back to bite SPD in the ass is wishful thinking.
The last time we had an incident with SPD confiscating medicine from an authorized patient, the DEA eventually got involved and the marijuana was never returned. Unfortunately, because Spohn was technically in violation of state law, even Obama’s DEA could get involved and the same outcome may transpire. If that happens, it will be another illustration of how last year’s attempt to improve our state’s medical marijuana law to protect patients was a failure.
Making light of this.
Awesome #1. Thieves dressing up as FBI in order to steal pot. A new crime that is destined to become so regular that it ceases to be surprising. (See, selling drugs from fast food drive thrus, out of ice cream trucks etc…)
Awesome #2. Calling the cops because your pot is being stolen.
@1
Thieves dressing up as FBI in order to steal pot.
It already happens quite a bit.
Gasp* Even Obama’s DEA!!! Aka the KGBama…
If you’re stupid enough to grow that much pot, people are going to take notice. EVEN IF IT’S LEGAL people will still steal pot.
This post by Lee is what you get when a pot head tries to engage in logic.
@3 Only a wingnut would use “Hitler” as a screen name. Somehow it fits.
You gotta live within the law, even when you disagree with it.
(But the next time a wingnut tells you that, ask him why he isn’t supporting the prosecution of two lawbreakers named Bush and Cheney.)
The police have to enforce the law. If the laws says 15 plants and you have 16 they have to take that extra one. However, the higher-ups at the police department and the prosecutors office can choose whether or not to prosecute someone. Hopefully they wont prosecute in this case.
@3
If you’re stupid enough to grow that much pot, people are going to take notice. EVEN IF IT’S LEGAL people will still steal pot.
If it’s legal, it won’t be grown in residential homes any more. And since there isn’t a black market for it, robbers like this won’t have customers to re-sell to. How often do you see wineries and microbreweries get robbed by people who sell wine and beer to people in a back alley?
This post by Lee is what you get when a pot head tries to engage in logic.
Normally when people decide to use the name “Hitler” as their tag in comment threads, they use it for the purpose of satire (for instance, pretending to actually be Hitler in order to make a point). Instead, you decided to use that tag and then tried to make a point as if having that tag would lend you more credibility.
And by the way, ug bootz, you can change your tag name, but your IP address does not change.
As has already been pointed out, in a legal, regulated cannabis market, this kind of thing wouldn’t happen.
MMJ laws are essentially one more knob and lever on a vast Rube Goldberg machine labeled ‘Drug Prohibition’. You can’t tweak the blasted thing to make it better; it needs to be scrapped entirely.
Lee the pot-smokin’ fool spews:
WTF do you think he was doing with the extra 185 plants?? Smoking it all himself?
Sheesh Lee…how much of that pot did you get?
How much did you smoke before conjuring up this thread?
Medical Marijuana is a great cover for pot dealers. Keeps Goldy’s Northwest Division of Lunatic Moonbats mellowed out though. That’s a good thing.
Rasmussen Alert!!
The Rasmussen Daily Tracking Poll has the Presidential Approval Index at +10, the highest since March, and up 900% since Tuesday!
Meanwhile, in the Rasmussen Generic Congressional Poll, the Democrats are at +3, trending ever higher, spelling doom for the Republican chances in 2010 – that is, if there’s still a Republican Party in 2010.
Well, that Daily Tracking Poll confirms that a lot more dope is being smoked than even a couple of months ago.
I like marijuana well enough but this continuous wailing about “medicine” is just so much stupidity. Just because some mouth breathers with a bong jones buy it doesn’t mean the rest do.
A little honesty wouldn’t hurt, but the semi-literate Lee wouldn’t know it if he ever possessed it.
“Seattle. Like Sacramento, it is yet another “Can’t Blame Republicans, There Aren’t Any” megalopolis — in deep trouble, barely treading water.”
http://mkfreeberg.webloggin.co.....ure-form/#
Wow Lee, did you sleuth that IP all by yourself or did you need Scooby Doo to help you?
The second you replied to my post, I won, plain and simple.
Secondly, if you think people will stop growing pot because it’s legal, you’re higher than I thought. The whole culture of ‘pot as a way of life’ has been around growing it. Legalization will not change that aspect of the culture. Pot is like Open Source apps, people will know what they like and how to achieve it horticulturally better than private growers.
It’s not like I give a rat’s ass either, legalize the hell out of it. However, I’ll take it one step further, keep government’s grubby hands off taxing it.
Take that, shove it your pipe and smoke it.
@13: The second you replied to my post, I won, plain and simple.
Because he acknowledged that you’re a dipshit doesn’t mean that you suddenly… aren’t.
Secondly, if you think people will stop growing pot because it’s legal, you’re higher than I thought. The whole culture of ‘pot as a way of life’ has been around growing it. Legalization will not change that aspect of the culture. Pot is like Open Source apps, people will know what they like and how to achieve it horticulturally better than private growers.
He’s not arguing that people will stop growing pot in the slightest! He’s arguing that grow ops inside residential homes will stop. How many people do you know have massive grow lamps for tomatoes or grapes set up in their houses?
As far as the rest of your statement… what? You’re not making any sense.
@13
Wow, you’re dumb even for a troll. Stand up and take a bow.
@9
WTF do you think he was doing with the extra 185 plants?? Smoking it all himself?
Um, he was providing it to other patients, fool. There are over 10,000 in this state.