Seattle Police Seize Medical Marijuana Patient Files
Looks like the police are not protecting and serving in Seattle.
Seattle police seized files on nearly 600 medical marijuana patients when officers searched the headquarters of a patient support group, activists said Wednesday.
The search occurred Tuesday after a nearby police bicycle officer reported the smell of marijuana. Martin Martinez, who runs the Lifevine cooperative as well as Cascadia NORML, the local chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, said no one was arrested but officers seized about 12 ounces of marijuana in addition to the patient files and a computer.
Another case of a cop using his nose to initiate arrests of completely innocent people. If no one was arrested, why did they seize property?
There were no marijuana plants growing there, Martinez said. He is a longtime advocate of legalizing the medical use of marijuana, following a severe motorcycle crash that left him with nerve damage in 1986. Three other patients authorized to use pot under Washington’s medical marijuana law were also present when officers arrived at the office, which does not dispense marijuana, he said.
Again, these patients are authorized for medical marijuana and are breaking no laws.
Cascadia NORML has been issuing identity cards to medical marijuana patients, but before doing so, it requires the patients to provide their medical authorizations for verification. That’s why the patient files were in the office, Martinez said. The cards are not issued pursuant to the state’s medical marijuana law, but are designed to help identify the patient as legitimate if confronted by police.
Some of the nearly 600 patients are now dead, and some others are no longer actively using marijuana, he said.
This fact cannot be overlooked, many of the patient files they illegally seized are in fact for patients who have died. What do they need this for? This is a good program helping sick and dying people, why are the police seizing computer files on these patients? Do cops kick in the doors of dentists and steal their computers and go through their confidential patient file history? This is illegal, to do so under the guise of “eradicating marijuana” is misleading and malicious.
The police “have a heck of a lot of patient records I don’t think they should have,” said Douglas Hiatt, a Seattle attorney who specializes in medical marijuana cases. “For one thing, those records are protected under federal privacy laws. If you’re a medical marijuana patient, you don’t want the police to know who you are or where you live, and this is why - because you don’t get treated very well.”
Nice, a lawyer speaking the truth about how patients are treated, and the fact these records should remain private. Again, not to mention the fact these patients were not breaking any state laws. No plants were being grown there.
Under Washington’s medical marijuana law, doctors can authorize patients to have as much as a 60-day supply of marijuana to treat symptoms of AIDS, cancer and other debilitating or chronic conditions. The law doesn’t define what a 60-day supply is, but the state Health Department proposed this month that it be defined as 24 ounces of usable pot, along with six mature plants and 18 immature plants. Marijuana remains illegal under federal law.
According to Hiatt, the seized documents included patient authorizations, full medical histories, and the names of doctors who authorized the marijuana use.
This is why it is important to learn how California & New York are trying to put an end to this practice - Hault To Prosecuting Patients - by denying tax dollars be used for prosecuting patients and doing this type of illegal activity. Again, they did not arrest anyone because there were no laws being broken, this should not be tolerated or accepted in our society.
These are sick and dying people suffering daily pain, just trying to live a better life - have these police no compassion? Why should tax dollars go to pay cops to arrest the very people that laws were enacted to allow medical marijuana use?
Alison Chinn Holcomb, who follows marijuana issues for the Washington state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, said there doesn’t appear to be any evidence that the group was providing or growing marijuana, and no information that has been revealed thus far would seem to justify seizing the patient files.
“These are very sick people with very serious conditions, and we’re sure none of them want the nature of those conditions made available to the public or to anyone who doesn’t have a valid need for it,” she said.
Many patients are dying, and to have them being treated this way is a mockery of what America is supposed to stand for.
This is not freedom. When a people vote for laws, and the cops themselves fight against those laws - who can win? They are the ones with the guns, the patients have doctor bills, not weapons.