by Kyle Melinn
File this under: Old Habits Die Hard.
Police, prosecutors, judges, the whole legal pyramid right up the line can´t crack this old, tired belief that all marijuana is bad all the time — that someone growing pot “needs them some criminal charges.”
Didn´t nearly two-thirds of Michigan voters say two years ago that a limited amount of medical marijuana could be grown legally? That it’s high time police found more productive uses for their time than harassing someone growing a little weed in the backyard?
And, yet, the Court of Appeals gave license to more law enforcement overreach when it allowed criminal charges against Owosso´s Larry S. King, who became a criminal for not having a conventional lock on his backdoor and for covering his 6-foot-high fence with a plastic tarp.
From a nosy neighbor´s property, police went Special Ops-like, using binoculars to spy into a converted dog kennel that King was using to legally grow his medical marijuana. The locked fence was 6 feet tall, but the plastic covering the enclosure was blowing in the breeze, allowing the cops to see real, live marijuana growing.
Justice needed to be served. Michigan State Police Sgt. Brian Fox and Shiawassee County Deputy Jed Eisenberger marched onto King´s property and asked him to produce his stateissued medical marijuana card, which he did.
They asked him to see his marijuana garden. He unlocked the gate for them.
They asked him if he was growing more. King said more plants were inside a closet in his house, but he wanted a warrant before showing those off. A warrant was produced.
Read complete article here:
http://www.lansingcitypulse.com/lansing/article-5460-its-time-police-simmer-down-on-pot.html
Police, prosecutors, judges, the whole legal pyramid right up the line can´t crack this old, tired belief that all marijuana is bad all the time — that someone growing pot “needs them some criminal charges.”
Didn´t nearly two-thirds of Michigan voters say two years ago that a limited amount of medical marijuana could be grown legally? That it’s high time police found more productive uses for their time than harassing someone growing a little weed in the backyard?
And, yet, the Court of Appeals gave license to more law enforcement overreach when it allowed criminal charges against Owosso´s Larry S. King, who became a criminal for not having a conventional lock on his backdoor and for covering his 6-foot-high fence with a plastic tarp.
From a nosy neighbor´s property, police went Special Ops-like, using binoculars to spy into a converted dog kennel that King was using to legally grow his medical marijuana. The locked fence was 6 feet tall, but the plastic covering the enclosure was blowing in the breeze, allowing the cops to see real, live marijuana growing.
Justice needed to be served. Michigan State Police Sgt. Brian Fox and Shiawassee County Deputy Jed Eisenberger marched onto King´s property and asked him to produce his stateissued medical marijuana card, which he did.
They asked him to see his marijuana garden. He unlocked the gate for them.
They asked him if he was growing more. King said more plants were inside a closet in his house, but he wanted a warrant before showing those off. A warrant was produced.
Read complete article here:
http://www.lansingcitypulse.com/lansing/article-5460-its-time-police-simmer-down-on-pot.html