Seattle police are bored!

July 19th, 2008 · 1 Comment

I guess there isn’t enough crime in Seattle for our police force. I know I hate a boring day on the job as much as the next but I think this is a bit extreme: Seattle police seize marijuana patient files

A bicycle cop smelled marijuana and decided the place must have a grow operation so they raid it. The office turned out to be a Medical Marijuana Co-Op. Basically, they helped patients get ID cards so they could legally prove they were allowed to have marijuana. The police refused to believe that there wasn’t a grow operation and ended up breaking down a wall. Needless to say, they did not find a grow operation. The police took 500 patients private medical records and 12 ounces of marijuana from patient with a valid prescription. The medical marijuana law in Washington State was voted on by the people and passed. The law allows for 60 days worth of marijuana up to 24 ounces (new part of the law, there was no limit prior).

Now, I don’t think it’s right but I think you can pretty much assume that even with a prescription… if you are raided they will take your pot. It’s not legal but it’s going to happen. But how about the medical records? Is it legal that they took the records?

Lucky, the bloggers are going nuts over this:

SPD Officers Search Medical Marijuana Group’s Office

Update on Police Seizing Patient Medical Records

Confiscating Medical Records: It All Makes Sense Now, Or Does It?

I highly suggest reading the last link which includes the warrant issued for the raid. The warrant specifically says it can seize “records of customers indicative of narcotics trafficking, papers of dominion and control over a residence, money proceeds from the sales of controlled substances”. So from my uneducated opinion, they should not have touched the records. Since the records are being returned, the DA might have agreed also.

The other part of this story is Seattle has a law (I-75) which says adult personal use of marijuana is the police lowest priority. If you smell marijuana and that is enough to raid a office place, I would like to know how I-75 plays into this. Should the police be raiding a office called “Medical Marijuana Co-Op” for simply smelling marijuana instead of dealing with the violent crime in the area? or as Tom would say, the homeless people pooping on the street?

Anyway, it looks like they have a good lawyer on the case – Douglas Hiatt appears to specialize in this area of law. Sure would be a fun type of law to practice… certainly can impact a lot of lives in a positive way.

In case I didn’t say before… this completely and utterly pisses me off. The whole thing. I would be freakin’ pissed off if my private records were taken.