08/01/2008 00:00:00
US: Police Return Marijuana Plants to Veteran
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AURORA -- An historic day in Colorado. The Aurora Police Department
had to return the largest number of marijuana plants ever to a marijuana
grower.
Gulf War veteran Kevin Dickes--once facing jail time for growing medical
marijuana--went back to the police to get it back Tuesday.
"By all rights, they should be fully grown, 5-foot tall, 71 cannabis
indicus plants. But I'm expecting that not to be the case," says Dickes'
lawyer, Robert Corry, Jr.
And he was right. The plants all fit into a brown paper grocery sack.
"Seventy-one plants, you guys, are in this bag. Seventy-one," said a
disappointed Dickes.
His medicine to ease the pain from chronic vascular disease is ruined.
"We're missing the buds that we grow on a marijuana plant. That's the
medicinal quality of the plant. This is stuff that would end up in the
trash can," says cannabis expert, Dana May.
And that destruction likely means the police will have to pay. Another
cannabis expert, Daniel Pope says, "The law is very clear, the plants
should not be neglected, harmed, injured or destroyed."
State law also allows Dickes to be compensated for his loss--a value of
$5,200 per plant. "There's 71 plants here. So do the math," says Corry Jr.
Police Chief Dan Oates said this about the law. "I think it is the
height of absurdity and death of common sense for me to go to my city
council and ask for money from the taxpayers of Aurora to run a grow
operation in my property locker."
Besides Oates says Dickes brought this on himself by not telling
officers the day he was arrested he was a registered medical marijuana user.
Police only stopped their search when Dickes' girlfriend told them a
half hour later.
Chief Oates says had they known immediately Dickes was registered to
have marijuana, they would have simply taken pictures of the plants,
taken a small sample and let the district attorney decide how to proceed.
Corry Jr. though says Dickes wasn't thinking clearly at the time because
police busted down Dickes' door with full black masks on, their guns
drawn and pointed to his head. He was then hauled away to jail just 10
minutes later.
Corry Jr. plans to file his motion for compensation next week.
http://www.myfoxcolorado.com/
Source:
http://www.ukcia.org/news/shownewsarticle.php?articleid=13124
Author:
MyfoxColorado via UKCIA
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