ASHCROFT RUNS ROUGHSHOD OVER OREGON'S VOTERS AGAIN

Although "if you're gonna steal, steal big" may be the guiding mantra for
some, in the U.S. Justice Department's war on medical marijuana patients,
size doesn't matter.

Even though the U.S. attorney for Oregon generally doesn't prosecute
cultivation cases involving fewer than 1,000 plants, the government
successfully stole a patient's 2.5 grams of medical marijuana from the
Portland Police Bureau, in broad daylight.

Why should the government care about whether Portland police have such a
paltry quantity of marijuana? Don't the police keep all controlled
substances they seize? What was so special about this case?

What was special was that Portland police, over their objections, had been
ordered to return this marijuana to the heart patient from whom they had
taken it a month after Oregon's Medical Marijuana Act took effect in 1999.
Multnomah County Circuit Judge Robert Redding's order followed the act:
Once a determination is made by the district attorney or a judge that the
marijuana was in possession of a patient covered under the act, as was the
case here, the seized drug must be returned.

The city attorney obtained special funding from the City Council to appeal
Redding's decision, but the Oregon Court of Appeals upheld the judge. Then
earlier this month, the Oregon Supreme Court informed the city that it
wouldn't review the Appeals Court's decision.

That should have been that.

Like the cavalry riding over the hill, however, the federal Drug
Enforcement Administration obtained a seizure warrant from a federal
magistrate for the marijuana. The government's theory was that it is
contraband and subject to forfeiture. Furthermore, since it is contraband,
the medical marijuana patient could not assert any property interest in the
drug.

Well, of course it's contraband, under federal law. Portland police took it
into their custody three years ago because officers thought it was
contraband under state law, too.

But, as Redding ruled, state law requires it to be returned upon a finding
that the medical marijuana patient is entitled to it.

Does federal law prohibit Oregon law enforcement from returning medical
marijuana to patients?

As Court of Appeals Judge Jack Landau wrote in the court's decision,
federal law actually exempts state law enforcement from federal prosecution
for violations of the Federal Controlled Substances Act, when state law
enforcement is acting pursuant to state law.

So, if the Portland Police Bureau's "possession with intent to deliver" 2.5
grams of medical marijuana to a registered medical marijuana patient is
exempt from federal prosecution, why would the U.S. attorney conspire with
the DEA to have the government seize the medical marijuana from the
Portland Police Bureau?

Like a 400-pound gorilla, the federal government acts this way because it
can. As with the Justice Department's failed attempt to interfere with our
assisted suicide law, this is simply another salvo in the ongoing battle
between the federal government and Oregonians over who gets to decide
private medical decisions made between patients and physicians. As with
death with dignity, Oregonians are also entitled to life with dignity.

And, someone needs to remind John Ashcroft that stealing is wrong, even
when authorized by a federal magistrate.