LAWYER: MEDICAL POT SHOULD BE RETURNED

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 smoking pipe and his registry card.