District Judge Stewart Stadler heard arguments Wednesday in a case pitting a medical marijuana advocacy group against Flathead County Attorney Ed Corrigan. The Montana Medical Growers Association sued Corrigan March 23 on behalf of two men charged with felonies after a February traffic stop that yielded three pounds of marijuana. Attorneys for the two men - Lief Erickson and Robin Ruiz - say they were acting within the confines of the Medical Marijuana Act as it existed at the time. They were transporting the marijuana to Great Falls, according to law enforcement. Ruiz is a registered caregiver and Erickson a patient. [continues 488 words]
The Flathead County Attorney's Office is asking a District Court judge to rule that caregiver-to-caregiver marijuana transactions are illegal under state law. The request comes in the wake of a similar ruling by a Missoula judge and in response to a lawsuit filed against Flathead County Attorney Ed Corrigan on behalf of the Medical Marijuana Growers Association. Missoula District Judge John Larsen ruled April 6 that the act passed by voter initiative in 2004 "particularly prohibits a caregiver from providing marijuana to anyone other than a qualifying patient who has registered that specific caregiver." [continues 399 words]
Action Aims to Legitimize Transportation of Marijuana Among Caregivers A medicinal marijuana advocacy group has sued Flathead County Attorney Ed Corrigan on behalf of two men facing felonies after a February traffic stop yielded three pounds of marijuana. The Montana Medical Growers Association is being represented by Tim Baldwin, a Kalispell attorney who said Thursday that the goal of the litigation is to establish that Montana's Medical Marijuana Act allows registered caregivers to lawfully transport marijuana and its paraphernalia to other caregivers. [continues 760 words]
There are several things I would like to get off my mind. One, Rob Cooper (SDN, July 27), I have to disagree with you. The drug task force did use Gestapo tactics in the recent supposed meth-lab raid. It had the couple in custody. It could have simply served the warrant and politely asked for their keys while explaining that if they did not comply then it was in their full power to gain access to the residence using whatever means were necessary. [continues 265 words]
There is too much prejudice and emotion involved in this never-ending "war on drugs" and not enough reasoned calm. There is a double standard, and an honest discussion with young people about drugs is generally not tolerated. The latest news case involving LSD is a case in point. Setting aside that the students involved were too young to receive even the legal drugs of alcohol or cigarettes, we are still left with a case of no harm done. No teen-agers killed in a drunken car crash. Nobody hurt. [continues 239 words]
Civil forfeiture, as in the proposal to confiscate cars driven by customers seeking to pay for sex, is an abuse of authoritative power. In this case, the punishment is excessive for what should not be a crime in the first place. It also punishes the innocent as well as the accused. A mother with four children has a husband who, while driving the family car, asks an undercover policewoman to have sex with him in exchange for money. He is arrested and his car is confiscated (civil forfeiture). Through civil liberty lawyers, she argues in court that since the vehicle was mutually owned, the state cannot take it. She also needs a family car for her children. [continues 171 words]
