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Posted on 08/19/2007 2:24:04 PM PDT by Wolfie
Pot Find Is The Legal Kind
Oregon -- The officers serving a search warrant on what they thought was a massive marijuana-growing operation had swarmed a greenhouse filled with plants and were poised to kick in the door of a house on the property when the word came.
This was a registered medical marijuana site and it complied with Oregon law.
"This is a frustration for us," said Sgt. Rick Valentine, supervisor of the Jackson County Narcotics Enforcement Team, who coordinated the seven Jackson County Sheriff's Department employees making this search earlier this month. "When we spend time on what turns out to be legal activity, it takes away from what we could do on illegal activities."
But if the misguided raid was a frustration for investigators, it was a shock to the grower, who arrived home to find a fleet of law enforcement sport-utility vehicles parked in his driveway and officers everywhere.
"I felt pretty violated," said the grower, who didn't want to be named in the newspaper. "I'm not a criminal.
"They turned out to be nice-enough guys, but I wish they had talked to me."
He said he wished his neighbors who complained about his 65-foot-long greenhouse filled with bushy marijuana plants had come to him before contacting police.
He could have explained that he is the registered grower for four medical-marijuana patients — a 22-year-old woman who was in a car crash and suffers from back pain, her mother who has multiple sclerosis, a woman with ovarian cancer, and an elderly man who has battled excruciating migraine headaches for years.
But as marijuana — whether in registered medical-marijuana gardens or vast cartel-operated plots in the forest — matures in the Southern Oregon summer, most people, wisely, don't stop to ask questions. They call police.
"Once the plants extend beyond a fence, we get calls on a pretty regular basis," Medford police Lt. Tim Doney said.
Valentine said his agency gets at least one call every day this time of year from someone who has spotted pot plants. He estimates that nearly 90 percent of easily visible gardens are medical marijuana, but investigators must follow up every call.
"It used to be real clear-cut," Doney said. "If you saw marijuana, it was illegal. Now we have to do more homework."
Investigators start by checking the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program database of medical marijuana patients, caregivers and growing sites. The program, operated by the Department of Human Services, shows that as of July 1, the state had issued 14,868 medical marijuana cards statewide, including 1,295 in Jackson County. The number of registered growing sites isn't publicly available.
Under the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act, each cardholder can have six mature plants, 18 seedlings, and 24 ounces of usable marijuana. A registered grower can grow for up to four cardholders.
But investigators say the law is sometimes abused, and if they have suspicions backed up by observation or witness statements, they will seek a search warrant. They've done that twice this summer, only to find compliant growers, Valentine said.
He said that in his initial survey of the site searched earlier this month, he estimated the greenhouse contained about 300 plants. But when the officers serving the search warrant counted stems, there were only 24 — the number authorized by the four cards the grower displayed at the site.
"The law doesn't say what 'too big of a plant' is," Valentine said.
The grower said the family friends and acquaintances who chose him to produce their medical marijuana selected him because they knew he could nurture plants.
"I have a good horticultural resume," he said, touting his experience on two organic farms in Washington. He has grown medical marijuana in the Rogue Valley for two years.
He creates organic compost teas to feed the plants and for his efforts over a six-month growing season to produce a year's worth of medicine, he is reimbursed $15,000 to $25,000, he said. State law allows cardholders to reimburse growers for supplies and utilities.
He said he grows a marijuana strain that produces a high volume with a low amount of active chemicals. He described it as "fluffy," but still noted that each mature plant produces between one and a half and two pounds of usable marijuana. The grower said advocacy groups around the state help facilitate transfers of excess marijuana. State law allows a cardholder to give marijuana to another cardholder if no money is exchanged, but authorities said there is no clear provision for clubs to swap or share marijuana.
"For voters, the intent was good," Valentine said of the medical marijuana law Oregon voters approved in 1998. "They wanted to help people who were suffering, but this has gone beyond what people envisioned."
He said permitting smaller amounts and requiring growers to submit to compliance checks would make enforcement easier for police.
He estimates that JACNET currently spends nearly 50 percent of its time investigating complaints about marijuana ultimately found to be compliant, medical growing operations.
"It takes a lot of time out of our schedule that could be spent on methamphetamine or heroin, which is increasing here," Valentine said.
The grower searched this month said he understands how people can have fears about drugs and drug-related violence in their neighborhoods when they see marijuana growing.
"If I saw something that looked dangerous next to my home, I would want it checked out, too," he said.
However, he said people shouldn't feel threatened just because they don't understand the medical marijuana program and assume all growers are criminal.
"I run a clean operation," he said. "I have my own family to keep safe."
He said the greenhouse shields neighbors from the scent and view of his controversial crop. He reiterates, though, that a majority of voters has authorized operations like his.
"Like it or not, it's the law," he said.
Yeah peckerwood..thats why you're supposed to INVESTIGATE before you get a "door-knocker paper".
That would seem simple enough. But I’m sure Sgt. Valentine has another agenda.
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Yes...but it takes some real legal and logical gymnastics to come to the conclusion that the Commerce Clause applies to pot grown in Oregon by an Oregonian and sold in Oregon to Oregonians.
Never fear, the feds performed this amazing trick years ago on our behalf.
The power to regulate v. the power to prohibit
Address:http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1419654/posts
Socialists insist that Congress can make 'findings' that give them powers not delegated.
Heh...by that definition, most of the Republican party is Socialist.
Having participated in several Ron Paul threads, I do not find the conclusion absurd.
>>”up until the lifetime of my grandfather, government did not think it had the power to regulate plants and chemicals”
In 1842, Congress forbade the importation of obscene literature or pictures from abroad. In 1884, the exportation or shipment in interstate commerce of livestock having any infectious disease was forbidden.
‘’The power to regulate commerce among the several States is granted to Congress in terms as absolute as is the power to regulate commerce with foreign nations.’’
— Brown v. Houston, 114 U.S. 622 (1885)<<
With Europe and the Indian nations not being states you don’t even need the interstate commerce clause - that’s international. Sick cattle sold across state lines is clearly under the ISCC.
But...
A plant growing in the soil from locally obtained seed with no intent that any portion ever cross state lines is about as much not the Federal government’s business as you get.
That said, if a neighbor had a 65 foot green house that appeared to be full of pot I would think it was for more than 4 people. Its been a long time since I around people who smoked pot but a pound used to be a mythical amount that would last a group of boys a year or more.
And these people are claiming 24*1.5 pounds = 36 pounds are for 4 people? That’s hard to believe.
The Commerce Clause does not apply to pot grown in Oregon by an Oregonian and sold in Oregon to Oregonians.
I'm sure you'll agree that if we let Oregonians grow and sell pot, we have to let everyone else, right? So assuming we have 1-2 million people growing pot in their backyards, do you think some of that pot might make it into interstate commerce?
Given that it's legal in the states themselves, the only time the federal government could intervene is the exact instant it crosses state lines, right? On either side of the state line it's legal, and no one knows if the pot came from out-of-state.
Now, you may be grinning and giggling at the fact that you think you found a way to scam the system and undermine Congress' efforts (which reflect the will of the people, by the way). But the Founding Fathers anticipated this.
The Necessary and Proper Clause in the U.S. Constitution gives Congress the power to regulate those in-state activities that have a substantial effect on their interstate regulatory efforts. Without that power, you can see how Congress can be subverted.
So, it is the Necessary and Proper Clause that controls in-state activities, not the Commerce Clause.
True, but I doubt Europe or the Indians would sign a treaty cutting off our trade.
The Commerce Clause gives the federal government the power to regulate commerce with foreign nations and with the Indian tribes, in addition to regulating commerce among the several states.
And note that the Founding Fathers used the same phrase, "to regulate" in all three areas. Meaning that if they can prohibit trade with Europe, they can prohibit trade with the Indians or between the states.
I doubt that "to regulate" has three different meanings when used once in the same sentence.
"And these people are claiming 24*1.5 pounds = 36 pounds are for 4 people? That’s hard to believe."
Yeah, if I was a cop looking at a 65 foot greenhouse growing pot for four people, I'd be a tad suspicious myself. Of course, the posters on this thread seem to feel that the cops should know it was legal, even though the licensing and record keeping by the Oregon government is practically nonexistent.
...which construction would permit Federal regulation of everything down to the length of our toenails, should the legislature see fit to pass such a law or to hand the regulatory authority over to an administrative bureau, for that matter.
which construction would permit Federal regulation of everything down to the length of our toenails, should the legislature see fit to pass such a law or to hand the regulatory authority over to an administrative bureau, for that matter.
Heh...by that definition, most of the Republican party is Socialist.
Yep, both of our political parties are controlled [at the national/congressional level] by their socialistic factions.
It is rare, particularly on FR, to find an open advocate of that socialistic position. - And ya gotta love the opportunity to expose its basic anti-constitutionism.
To be fair, I haven't read all of his posts, either.
Only if the length of our toenails had a substantial effect on the commerce that Congress was constitutionally regulating. Can you please give me an example of where that might happen?
I didn't think so. Thank you for playing. We have some wonderful parting gifts for you.
rp, thankfully I can't think of an instance where the government might have a legitimate interest in regulating the length of our toenails. That's why I used it as an example...it's called hyperbole...exaggeration for the purpose of emphasis.
Many people here at FR use it without realizing it.
"Every society has a right to fix the fundamental principles of its association, and to say to all individuals, that if they contemplate pursuits beyond the limits of these principles and involving dangers which the society chooses to avoid, they must go somewhere else for their exercise; that we want no citizens, and still less ephemeral and pseudo-citizens, on such terms. We may exclude them from our territory, as we do persons infected with disease."
-- Thomas Jefferson to William H. Crawford, 1816.
I fully endorse Jefferson’s idea as expressed in your quotation, and particularly with regard to those who would choose to experiment with a yet larger, more pervasive, and more powerful government than we now have.
I don't understand. Just a few posts ago you said the federal government could. Now you're saying you can't think of a legitimate interest why they would.
Are you saying that you would support the regulating of toenails if the government interest WAS legitimate?
Hate to bust yer bubble, but this stuff never leaves Oregon. How is that 'interstate commerce'?
Oh I forgot. You're a liberal. Therefore everything is interstate commerce.
Never mind.
L
I get tired of sparring, rp, and frankly I no longer have time for it. I hereby declare defeat...you win. Congrats.
Afterwards they would have all high fived each other and then got their stories straight about the 'threatening manner' the deceased accused was acting in.
L
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