LAWYER: STATE LAW PREVAILS IN MEDICAL MARIJUANA CASE

A Steamboat Springs lawyer argued before a federal judge Thursday that law
enforcement officers who confiscated a cancer patient's marijuana were not
acting under federal authority.

Thus, argued attorney Kristopher Hammond, they were subject to state law
and should be held in contempt for not returning the marijuana to the patient.

But Department of Justice attorney Michael Hegarty argued that the officers
who went into Don Nord's apartment in Hayden on Oct. 14 were all deputized
Drug Enforcement Administration agents acting "under the color" of federal law.

Nord, 57, has a Medical Marijuana Registry card issued by Colorado to smoke
marijuana for pain related to cancer. Six officers, five of them local and
one a DEA agent, used a state search warrant to confiscate his pot plants,
5 ounces of loose marijuana, growing equipment, a pipe and his registry card.

When state prosecutors refused to charge Nord, a state judge told the
officers to return everything. They did except for the loose marijuana and
the pipe.

Hammond filed a contempt motion against the six for violating state law and
a judge's order to return the drug. A contempt hearing is scheduled for
Monday. But Hegarty moved the case to federal court this week.