Patient Sues Emeryville for Losing His Medical Marijuana

For Immediate Release: December 9, 2004

Contact: Hilary McQuie 510.333.8554


Patient Sues Emeryville for Losing His Medical Marijuana
Demands City Create 'Sensible Police Policies' for Prop 215 Patients

EMERYVILLE – James Blair, a spinal injury patient arrested on marijuana cultivation
charges a year ago, marked the anniversary of the incident today by suing the City
of Emeryville and the Emeryville Police Department. Assisted by the patient advocacy
group, Americans for Safe Access (ASA), Blair is suing Emeryville Police Department
(EPD) for damages resulting from his wrongful arrest and seizure as well as
injunctive relief to force Emeryville to adopt sensible police policies with regard
to medical marijuana.



James Blair had his medicine and cultivation equipment seized by EPD on December 9,
2003. Emeryville PD confiscated 30 full-grown plants and a considerable amount of
cultivation equipment. Blair's suit claims that EPD violated his statutory right to
cultivate marijuana for medical use.

After Blair's criminal case resulted in a dismissal of all his charges (cultivation
and possession of marijuana for sale), a Superior Court Judge issued a court order
on April 20, 2004, for the return of his property, including the medical marijuana.
Soon after, Blair went with court order in hand to pick up his property from EPD,
and was verbally denied it. Under threat of contempt of court, EPD finally agreed to
return only some of Blair's property.

In a letter dated June 28, 2004, the Emeryville Police Chief states that due to "a
burglary of an off-site secured storage facility," many of Blair's items are "no
longer in our possession." The "stolen" items include most of his cultivation
equipment and the usable portion of his medical marijuana plants. On September 23,
2004, Blair was finally able to pick up the remainder of his property from EPD,
confirming his worst fears that the majority of what was seized by police, including
his medicine, had reportedly been stolen from the police.



Americans for Safe Access Legal Coordinator Kris Hermes noted that, "Police have
placed obstructions in Blair's way at every step -- beyond their original rights
violations from the seizure and arrest -- mainly because there is no police policy
with regard to medical marijuana." ASA receives dozens of calls every month from
California-legal medical marijuana patients whose marijuana is needlessly seized and
illegally destroyed by police across the state. To illustrate the serious and
widespread nature of this conduct, ASA issued "Out of Compliance, A Report on Rights
Violations by California Law Enforcement in Defiance of Medical Marijuana Laws."
This report identifies a "culture of resistance" by law enforcement against
enforcement of Proposition 215 as a widespread problem and conduct that cannot be
defined by "a few bad apples." (To see the full report, go to
http://www.safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=1487)



Assisted by the patient advocacy group, Americans for Safe Access (ASA), Blair is
suing Emeryville Police Department (EPD) in Alameda County Superior Court in Oakland
for damages resulting from his wrongful arrest and seizure as well as injunctive
relief to force Emeryville to adopt sensible police policies with regard to medical
marijuana. "By helping to make police pay for their transgressions through lawsuits
like Blair v. Emeryville PD," said Blair after filing his lawsuit. "Americans for
Safe Access and I are going to force police agencies to adopt sensible police
policies for enforcement of the Compassionate Use Act."



#
#
#
#

Available for Interview:

James Blair 510.318-4256

Joe Elford, ASA Staff Attorney 415.573-7842

Kris Hermes, ASA Legal Coordinator 510.486-8083

- To see the full complaint, see
http://www.safeaccessnow.org/downloads/Blair_Complaint.pdf

- To read update on connected actions being taken across the state for
Return of Property, see http://www.safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=1624