MEDICAL POT USERS, GROWERS CAN SUE OVER RAIDS

Medical marijuana patients and growers can sue police for illegally
raiding their property and destroying their plants, a state appeals
court ruled Wednesday.

The 2-1 decision by the Third District Court of Appeal in Sacramento
was the first in the state to allow a patient or grower to sue
claiming that their rights to cultivate and use medical marijuana
have been violated. Those rights are protected by state law but
banned by federal law.

Officials in Butte County, where the case arose, argued that patients
and suppliers can invoke the medical marijuana law only as a defense
to criminal charges, not to sue for damages. The court's dissenting
justice said no one is entitled to compensation for the destruction
of a drug banned under federal law.

But the court's majority said a marijuana patient or member of a
collective has the same right as anyone else to sue officers who
violate the constitutional ban on illegal searches and seizures.

The plaintiff, David Williams, is relying on "the same constitutional
guarantee of due process available to all individuals," Justice Vance
Raye said. He said Williams is not required to go through "the
expense and stress of criminal proceedings" to assert his rights.

Williams belonged to a seven-member collective near the town of
Paradise. When a sheriff's deputy came to his door without a warrant
in September 2005, Williams showed doctors' recommendations for all
seven patients that allowed them to grow and use marijuana, he said.

He said the officer had questioned the legality of the collective and
ordered him to destroy 29 of the 41 plants on his property or face
arrest. He complied, then sued the officer and the county for
damages. Wednesday's ruling upheld a Superior Court judge's refusal
to dismiss the suit.

In a dissenting opinion, Justice Fred Morrison said Congress should
ease the federal ban on marijuana to accommodate California and 12
other states that allow medical use. But as long as the ban exists,
he said, no one has the right to use the drug, and police are
entitled to confiscate it.

Brad Stephens, a deputy county counsel, said the county would
probably appeal to the state Supreme Court.