Last Tuesday I posted a story, “Dispute Grows Over Medical Marijuana Plants“, in which a legal medical marijuana-using cancer patient received complaints about her outdoor garden from her neighbor, Mr. Jack Lennon of Vancouver, Washington.  The Vancouver police checked out Mr. Lennon’s allegations that she was growing “a lot more than 60 days” worth of medicine, as per Washington’s state medical marijuana law, and that they were “the biggest plants I’ve ever seen.”  The police found her outdoor grow to be completely within the law.

However, Jack Lennon’s complaint also led to a news story on the local FOX affiliate, KPTV 12 in Portland.  The news story mentioned the name of the street on which Jack Lennon and the cancer patient reside, and filmed the story with the cancer patient’s home featured prominently throughout the report.

Friends and family and the patient herself, self-identified as Tracie, have followed-up on my initial post with updates in our comments section.  According to Tracie:

I am not sure why Jack decided to take this action. I have in the past given him Blazer Tickets, a cell phone, and my husband sold him his first car. We have always been close to Jack, his brother and mother. Why Jack all of the sudden became an expert without asking me first, is beyond me.

Jack has now been informed that there is no illegal activity taking place on my property, and that if he, or anyone else on my block bother me, the Vancouver Police Department will site them for harassment.

Again, thank you to all those that care. I am starting to feel better…good day today. Have another round of chemo on Thursday, so keep me in your prayers.

Unfortunately, thanks to the media attention by KPTV FOX News 12 and Jack Lennon or Vancouver, Washington, this cancer patient named Tracie now lives in a house that the entire Portland metro area knows has a cannabis growsite in her back yard.  Sunday night, a family friend writes:

Unfortunately the lady growers’ home was robbed yesterday morning sometime between the hours of 3:30am and 7:00am. There had been no problems since May until the news story…

[S]ecurity has been beefed up, however, one of Jack’s friends, (This was confirmed with Jack’s mother) posted the lady’s name and address on another site with the comment “looking for a new drug dealer?”…

Almost half were stolen, but I am guessing not by a medical patient. And it had to be by someone who our 3 dogs know…

Then, early on Monday morning we received another update:

The house was robbed again by high schoolers but one was caught and taken by Vancouver Police Department. He was caught by the added security and told us he heard about the marijuana from the Fox Channel 12 news story with Jim Hyde.

So thanks in no small part to Jack Lennon of Vancouver, Washington, not being man enough to privately address his concerns about a secret outdoor marijuana garden to his frail, cancer-stricken female neighbor, she now gets to scramble to find medicine so she won’t vomit uncontrollably from her next chemo treatment.  Thanks to KPTV FOX News 12 and their lack of concern for the medical privacy of a cancer patient, residents of a peaceful Vancouver nighborhood now must worry about late-night thieves prowling around their back yards and alleyways.

Jack Lennon of Vancouver, Washington, the late great John Lennon wrote lyrics for people like you: “Instant karma’s gonna get you!”

Download audio file (john-lennon-instant-karma.mp3)

Now, we here at the Stash, unlike Jack Lennon of Vancouver, Washington, will not post Jack Lennon’s address and strongly discourage any harassment of Mr. Lennon.  We believe in minding our own business and letting people be, even inconsiderate cowards who run to the police rather than talking to cancer-suffering neighbors.  However, KPTV FOX 12 Portland is a news media organization that should know better.  You may address your complaints to:

KPTV Fox 12
News Director/Station Manager
Patrick McCreery
14975 NW Greenbrier Parkway
Beaverton, OR 97006-5731
tel (503) 906-1249
fax (503) 548-6920

Dispute Grows Over Medical Marijuana Plants – Portland News Story – KPTV Portland
VANCOUVER, Wash. — Vancouver residents expressed concern Monday about marijuana growing in their neighbors yard.

A woman growing the pot said she’s a cancer patient and she has a medical card allowing her to grow some for personal use.

But one neighbor said he thinks she is growing more than she needs and he wants law enforcement officers to do something about it.

There are some marijuana plants growing behind one home and a neighbor said he doesn’t think the plants are following medical marijuana guidelines.

“I don’t smoke pot, and I know people that do and I know that that’s a lot more than 60 days. Those are the biggest plants I’ve ever seen,” neighbor Jack Lennon said. “I think if it’s going to be grown it needs to be regulated, it needs to be supervised.”

The woman who is growing the marijuana said that she’s never done anything illegal in her life.

She said she was going to get chemotherapy Monday and that the plants are part of her treatment.

Jack Lennon of Vancouver, Washington, you are the winner of today’s Lousy Neighbor Award!  No, I take it back, how about Lousy Human Being?

Your neighbor is a cancer patient who has followed the law of the state of Washington.  It is not her fault the law has such a vague standard of “60-day supply”.  Indeed, how much is a valid 60-day supply of marijuana for someone who is battling death, losing hair, vomiting, poisoning their body with radiation, weakening, lowering the immune system, plagued by nausea… what, you think three ounces is good?

The Governor of Washington State asked the experts, people not like Jack Lennon of Vancouver, Washington, people who have actually grown marijuana plants and understand that plant yields vary, that molds, mites, fungus, and various other problems can attack a garden, people who actually work with patients and understand that some may eat their medicine and thus require four times more of it than a smoker or vaporizer, and those experts, unlike Jack Lennon of Vancouver, Washington, recommended that Washington State allow 70 ounces (that’s 4 3/8 pounds) as a “60-day supply”.  That freaked out law enforcement, so now the compromise limit suggested is 24 ounces (pound and a half) which matches the limit across the river in Portland, Oregon.

But let’s suppose for a moment that Jack Lennon of Vancouver, Washington, has a point.  Maybe she does have a honkin’ huge cannabis sativa plant in her back yard and it’s more than she could use in 60 days.

So what!?!  So she might have enough to last 75 days?  90 days?  A year?  Good!  A cancer patient has more than enough medicine!  Hooray!  That’s something to be happy about, not something you run to cops about rather than just having a face-to-face with your cancer-stricken neighbor, Jack Lennon of Vancouver, Washington.  Maybe she even has so much medicine that she freely gives some to other cancer patients or she donates some to the many patient cooperatives that help people with AIDS, MS, chronic pain, intestinal disorders, seizures, asthma, depression, anxiety, PTSD, and so much more.

It is regulated.  It is supervised.  You are already forcing sick people to get a doctor’s note to grow a non-toxic herb in their own homes.  What more do you want, Jack Lennon of Vancouver, Washington, regular visits from some state graden inspector?  Home supervision by a trained medical professional to control the dosage of the weed?  Video cameras in the yard and inside the home supervised by Blackwater contractors plugged in directly to Dick Cheney’s secret bunker?

Oh, by the way, the Vancouver Police do not believe there is any illegal marijuana activity going on.