POLICE FIND POT, RETURN IT TO OWNER

Two grams of marijuana were reportedly taken from a truck.

Dennis Osbourn retrieved his missing marijuana from an unusual place
Thursday =8B the Salem Police Department.

Osbourn, a medical marijuana user, reported the two grams of weed stolen
Tuesday from his truck in the parking lot of The Home Depot.

An officer recovered the pot a day later. Lt. Bill Kohlmeyer said police
returned it to its rightful owner because Osbourn is legally allowed to use
it.

`I think the police did a very, very good job of handling this,' Osbourn,
38, said. `Within two days they had my stuff back.'

The pot disappeared after Osbourn went into the hardware store at 3795
Hagers Grove Road SE and realized that his shopping list was still in his
truck.

As he walked back, Osbourn said, he saw a man in a passing car give him an
odd look. He made a note of the vehicle's license plate number.

When he reached in to retrieve the list, Osbourn discovered that the purse
containing the marijuana was gone. He had left his truck unlocked, with bot
h
his car keys and the purse on the driver's side floor.

Osbourn called from the store to report the theft, providing police with th
e
car's description and license number.

The next day, Salem Sgt. J.R. Miller stopped the car. The driver, Salem
resident John Ripple, had the purse but said he found it lying in the
parking lot and had intended to return it to its owner, Kohlmeyer said. The
purse contained Osbourn's identification.

Ripple, it turned out, is a medical marijuana user, too, Kohlmeyer said.
`We're not even sure it was a theft,' Kohlmeyer said. =B3We don=B9t anticipate
any criminal charges being filed. It's entirely possible that the victim
knocked it out as he got out of the car.'

About 3,600 Oregonians have medical marijuana cards. The law, approved by
voters in 1998, allows patients with certain medical conditions to grow
seven marijuana plants at a time and possess up to 3 ounces of marijuana.
Osbourn said he smokes pot to dull the nausea caused by medication he takes
for chronic kidney stones. He said he passed 12 stones last year and was
hospitalized twice for renal failure.

Losing the pot wasn't the worst part of the experience, Osbourn said,
because his medical marijuana group provided him with more. Temporarily
losing his pipe was worse.

`I've been having to roll joints, which wastes it,' Osbourn said. =B3If I hav
e
my pipe, I can take a couple of quick hits and it doesn't waste it.'