On Thursday, August 23rd at 1:30pm, California's Fourth Appellate District in Santa Ana will hear oral arguments in a contentious case related to the return of medical cannabis patients' medicine following interactions with the police. The State Attorney General and the California Police Chiefs Association have filed amicus briefs in the case, supporting opposite sides of the issue of 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.

After more than two years, Garden Grove patient Felix Kha may finally see the return of his wrongfully confiscated 8 grams of medical marijuana. Kha was cited for marijuana possession, and his medicine was seized in June of 2005. 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.

Americans 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 showthat 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.

Until 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 revised its policy to better respect patients' rights. 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.

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 in recent years have resulted in Superior Court orders and the return of the patient's medicine. At the same time, many denials have also occurred. 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, ASA says, "makes the issue ripe for an appellate court decision."

ASA's Return of Property Page | Felix Kha's return of property case, including a description and legal briefs | The City of Garden Grove's appeal | ASA's opposition to Garden Grove's appeal | The California Attorney General's amicus brief in support of Kha | The California Police Chiefs Association amicus brief in support of Garden Grove | Examples of return of property court orders issued by Superior Court judges in California