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UID:Indybay-18442379
SEQUENCE:18459189
CREATED:20070822T183500Z
DESCRIPTION:Medical Marijuana Patients Argue for Right to Unlawfully Seized 
 Property\n\nHearing Thursday in state appellate court could mark an end to 
 years of local law enforcement violations\n\n \n \n\nWhat: Oral arguments 
 for two medical marijuana "Return of Property" cases in State Appellate 
 Court \nWhen: Thursday, August 23 at 1:30pm \nWhere: California Court of 
 Appeal for the Fourth District, 925 N. Spurgeon Street, Santa Ana \nWho: 
 ASA Executive Director Steph Sherer, Chief Counsel Joe Elford will all be 
 available for comment after the hearing \nSanta Ana, CA -- After more than 
 two years, Garden Grove patient Felix Kha may finally see the return of his 
 wrongfully confiscated 8 grams of medical marijuana. California's Fourth 
 Appellate District in Santa Ana will hear oral arguments in a case that has 
 drawn the attention of the State Attorney General and the California Police 
 Chiefs Association. Both organizations filed amicus briefs in the case, 
 which supported opposite sides of the issue whether law enforcement has a 
 right to seize a patient's marijuana and, in the event of an unlawful 
 seizure, whether that patient has a right to get it back. Kha was cited for 
 marijuana possession and had his medicine seized in June 2005, but after 
 the case was dismissed in August 2005, an Orange County Superior Court 
 judge ordered the return of his medicine. However, the City of Garden Grove 
 not only refused to return Kha's unlawfully seized property, it also 
 appealed the order, an unprecedented action by a California city. \n\n"More 
 than ten years after the passage of the Compassionate Use Act, patients are 
 still victim to routine medical marijuana seizures by local law 
 enforcement," said Americans for Safe Access Chief Counsel, and Kha's 
 attorney, Joe Elford. "It is bad enough to have your medicine 
 indiscriminately seized by police, but to then be denied its rightful 
 return shows a blatant disregard for state law and the hundreds of 
 thousands of California patients for whom this law was designed to 
 protect." \n\nAmericans for Safe Access (ASA) has compiled reports from 
 nearly eight hundred patient encounters with local or state police during a 
 period of more than two years. These reports show a glaring trend: more 
 than 90% of all encounters result in medicine seizure by police regardless 
 of any probable cause. According to reports received by ASA, rampant 
 seizure of medical marijuana from qualified patients and primary caregivers 
 has taken place in 53 of California's 58 counties. These violations of 
 state law occur in both urban and rural locales, in the north as well as 
 the south, and by both city and county law enforcement. \n\nUntil 2005, the 
 California Highway Patrol (CHP) held the record for the worst violator of 
 Proposition 215, with a policy of mandatory seizure of medical marijuana 
 regardless of patient status. In early 2005, ASA sued the state's top law 
 enforcement agency and by August of that year the CHP had revised its 
 policy to better respect patients' rights. As a result of that policy 
 change, the CHP went from being the most irresponsible law enforcement 
 agency with regard to the unlawful seizure of medical marijuana to one of 
 the state's best. As a result of different litigation, also involving ASA, 
 the County of Merced revised its police policy in June 2007 to prevent the 
 unlawful seizure of marijuana from qualified patients. \n\nAs a consequence 
 of the high number of medicine seizures, ASA has assisted scores of 
 patients in seeking the return of their property. Although fairly onerous, 
 California criminal courts have a mechanism to seek the return of medical 
 marijuana; patients can file a motion for return of property and request a 
 hearing. According to ASA, at least thirty of these motions have resulted 
 in Superior Court orders and the return of patient medicine. At the same 
 time, an undue number of denials have also occurred. In fact, Kha's case 
 will be heard alongside the case of Jim Spray, a Huntington Beach patient 
 that was denied a court order by a different judge in the same Superior 
 Court that issued Kha's order. This discrepancy makes the issue ripe for an 
 appellate court decision. \n\nFor further information, refer to: \nFelix 
 Kha's return of property case, including a description and legal briefs 
 \nThe City of Garden Grove's appeal \nASA's opposition to Garden Grove's 
 appeal \nThe California Attorney General's amicus brief in support of Kha 
 \nThe California Police Chiefs Association amicus brief in support of 
 Garden Grove \nExamples of return of property court orders issued by 
 Superior Court judges in California \n 
 https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2007/08/22/18442379.php
SUMMARY:Medical Marijuana Patients Argue for Right to Unlawfully Seized Property
LOCATION:California Court of Appeal for the Fourth District, 925 N. Spurgeon Street, 
 Santa Ana 
URL:https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2007/08/22/18442379.php
DTSTART:20070823T203000Z
DTEND:20070823T223000Z
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