Payette County Sheriff Chad Huff doesn't want to see his 72-bed jail filled with cannabis smokers. Before July 1's legalization of recreational marijuana across the Snake River in Oregon, Huff spoke with his deputies. He encouraged them to cite and release violators of Idaho's marijuana possession law. Possession of up to 3 ounces of pot in Idaho is a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine. "I've basically asked that they not overload our jail with marijuana arrests," Huff said. "We're going to take more of a citation in the field (approach) vs. an actual physical arrest on marijuana charges." [continues 2253 words]
The Oregon Court of Appeals has dismissed the Douglas County Sheriff's Office challenge of an order forcing the agency to provide marijuana seized in a drug raid to three patients prescribed medical marijuana. Three years ago, police raided the Dixonville home of Dwight Ehrensing, a designated caregiver and grower for several people who are cardholders under the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act. They seized more than 120 pounds of processed marijuana, some of which was processed for sale. They also seized 80 pounds of marijuana butter, produced by slow cooking marijuana leaves with butter or margarine and then straining out the leafy material. The butter, which contains high levels of THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, is then used as a food spread. [continues 492 words]
Last year, Douglas County sheriff's deputies were called to Mercy Medical Center after a 10-month-old child was treated after ingesting methamphetamine. The child's mother, who also had two other young children at home, told officers she and her boyfriend had consumed meth earlier that morning. However, authorities were unable to determine how the baby got the illegal drug into its system. All three children were taken into protective custody. Three months later, the mother was re-arrested, again on meth charges, Janet Judd, executive director of the Douglas County Methamphetamine Task Force, told members of the Governor's Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse at a meeting Tuesday in Roseburg. [continues 618 words]
The news reports from Washington, D.C., earlier this week trumpeted the news that the number of methamphetamine lab busts are down this year. Nationally, lab seizures have dropped 30 percent, according to the Bush administration. In Oregon, they're down 75 percent, Douglas County Sheriff Chris Brown told a dinner audience Thursday. The bad news, Brown told members of the Douglas County Democratic Party, is that meth addiction is just as serious of a problem locally as it's ever been. [continues 355 words]
The Oregon Court of Appeals last week overturned one Douglas County drug conviction and upheld another. In the first case, the court ruled that officers from the Roseburg Police Department improperly searched a backpack found on the front seat of a pickup without first obtaining a warrant. The backpack contained marijuana that was allegedly being sold by the suspect. In the second case, the court ruled that a defendant failed to timely file a motion to dismiss charges on the grounds of double jeopardy. The state retried the defendant after a jury failed to muster enough votes to either convict or acquit. [continues 532 words]
Evidence of recent drug use doesn't give police the right to stop and question a person about suspected criminal activity, the Oregon Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday in a case from Douglas County. Tamara M. Holcomb, 24, of Cottage Grove, was arrested May 11, 2002, after a sheriff's deputy saw her dancing on the side of Highway 99 in Curtin and stopped to question her. Two small bags of methamphetamine and some syringes were later found in her possession. [continues 543 words]
The past three months, Rep. Susan Morgan has spent most of her time in the basement of the state Capitol, immersed for six hours a day in budget discussions. Therefore, the Republican from Green said she was glad to get away Friday from Salem, on a day when the Oregon Legislature wasn't in session because of Easter weekend. Traditionally, the day is set aside for legislators to return to their districts to work and Morgan came to Roseburg with Sen. Jeff Kruse for a joint town hall meeting. [continues 741 words]
A Myrtle Creek man was convicted last week of all four charges against him in the beating and robbery of a man growing medical marijuana. A jury of seven men and five women found Jeffry T. Lindenmeier, 19, guilty of first- and second-degree robbery, conspiracy to commit robbery and second-degree assault. The jury deliberated about an hour and a half before reaching its decision Wednesday following a two-day trial. Lindenmeier, one of six men and teenage boys to be charged in the March 21, 2003, attack on Craig Hobbs, will be sentenced Aug. 13. [continues 159 words]
A sheriff's deputy testified Tuesday that he followed a trail of marijuana leaves from the scene of a brutal attack last year on a Tri City man to a home where several of the suspects in the case were later found. Deputy Jason Zanni said the attackers carried off a marijuana plant from the home of Craig Hobbs, the victim in the case. As they ran, the plant shed leaves and stems that investigators were able to use to track to another home, located around the corner about 100 yards from Hobbs' residence. [continues 349 words]
The Oregon Supreme Court on Thursday reinstated drug manufacture and delivery convictions won against a Winston couple. The high court unanimously reversed an earlier decision by the Oregon Court of Appeals to throw out the 1998 convictions of Craig and Lisa Trax, who were arrested after a search of their apartment led to the discovery of two marijuana plants and drug paraphernalia. The couple argued successfully before a split Court of Appeals that the warrant used to carry out the search of their residence on Cary Street was faulty because the house contained two separate apartments and the document did not specify which residence was to be searched. [continues 442 words]
