Medical marijuana patients and growers can sue police for illegally raiding their property and destroying their plants, a state appeals court ruled Wednesday.
The 2-1 decision by the Third District Court of Appeal in Sacramento was the first in the state to allow a patient or grower to sue claiming that their rights to cultivate and use medical marijuana have been violated. Those rights are protected by state law but banned by federal law.
Officials in Butte County, where the case arose, argued that patients and suppliers can invoke the medical marijuana law only as a defense to criminal charges, not to sue for damages. The court’s dissenting justice said no one is entitled to compensation for the destruction of a drug banned under federal law.
But the court’s majority said a marijuana patient or member of a collective has the same right as anyone else to sue officers who violate the constitutional ban on illegal searches and seizures.
Brad Stephens, a deputy county counsel, said the county would probably appeal to the state Supreme Court.
Butte County, you really want to play out this hand? Did you learn nothing from San Diego and San Bernadino? The federal law banning marijuana does not relieve state, county, and local officials from obeying the state medical marijuana law. You can take this to the California Supremes and lose and take it to the federal Supremes and be ignored, and all you’ll do in the process is waste a lot of Butte County taxpayers’ money.
Here’s a cheaper idea: obey the law.
this angered me and my girlfriend verry much just reading about this, i can only imagine how those girls and there parents must feel, i really hope that the people that did this to these girls are prosecuted and punished to the full extent of the law, and that they would come to my town so i can taze there balls
why should they obey the law? it’s exceedingly clear that officials around the country can/have broken the law, have been proven to have broken the law and still not be punished.
why should they stop appealing? like you said, the taxpayers are footing the bill.
it’s not like they have to balance the budget. they won’t lose their jobs. Even if they lose the appeals in the end the taxpayers are going to foot the bill.
it’s an all gain, no risk situation for them.
why should they care? being responsible is just a pain in the ass.
Twist ties be damed!!