photo of don duncan from http://www.flickr.com/photos/nohodamon/
Hello, ASA Members and Friends.
Tomorrow [Thursday], ASA will be presenting oral arguments in California Appellate Court in the return of property case for Felix Kha, a Garden Grove medical cannabis patient suing for return of his medical cannabis. Kha has been fighting for eight grams of medicine for years, and ASA is representing him to help secure the rights of every medical cannabis patient in California. Details about the case are below. Please try to come out and support Kha and ASA in Santa Ana tomorrow:
Medical Marijuana Patients Argue for Right to Unlawfully Seized Property
Hearing Thursday in state appellate court could mark an end to years of local law enforcement violations –
What: Oral arguments for two medical marijuana "Return of Property" cases in State Appellate Court
When: Thursday, August 23 at 1:30pm
Where: California Court of Appeal for the Fourth District, 925 N. Spurgeon Street, Santa Ana
Who: ASA Executive Director Steph Sherer, Chief Counsel Joe Elford will all be available for comment after the hearing
ASA’s legal team answers dozens of questions for patients, attorneys, doctors, and others every day. They have also secured important legal victories for patients, like our landmark suit against the California Highway Patrol. Read more about our Patients’ Rights Project at http://www.safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=4217
We need your support to keep doing this innovative legal work. Visit http://www.AmericansForSafeAccess.org/donate to help out.
Santa Ana, CA -- After more than two years, Garden Grove patient Felix Kha may finally see the return of his wrongfully confiscated 8 grams of medical marijuana. California's Fourth Appellate District in Santa Ana will hear oral arguments in a case that has drawn the attention of the State Attorney General and the California Police Chiefs Association. Both organizations filed amicus briefs in the case, which supported opposite sides of the issue whether law enforcement has a right to seize a patient's marijuana and, in the event of an unlawful seizure, whether that patient has a right to get it back. Kha was cited for marijuana possession and had his medicine seized in June 2005, but after the case was dismissed in August 2005, an Orange County Superior Court judge ordered the return of his medicine. However, the City of Garden Grove not only refused to return Kha's unlawfully seized property, it also appealed the order, an unprecedented action by a California city.
"More than ten years after the passage of the Compassionate Use Act, patients are still victim to routine medical marijuana seizures by local law enforcement," said Americans for Safe Access Chief Counsel, and Kha's attorney, Joe Elford. "It is bad enough to have your medicine indiscriminately seized by police, but to then be denied its rightful return shows a blatant disregard for state law and the hundreds of thousands of California patients for whom this law was designed to protect."
Americans for Safe Access (ASA) has compiled reports from nearly eight hundred patient encounters with local or state police during a period of more than two years. These reports show a glaring trend: more than 90% of all encounters result in medicine seizure by police regardless of any probable cause. According to reports received by ASA, rampant seizure of medical marijuana from qualified patients and primary caregivers has taken place in 53 of California's 58 counties. These violations of state law occur in both urban and rural locales, in the north as well as the south, and by both city and county law enforcement.
Until 2005, the California Highway Patrol (CHP) held the record for the worst violator of Proposition 215, with a policy of mandatory seizure of medical marijuana regardless of patient status. In early 2005, ASA sued the state's top law enforcement agency and by August of that year the CHP had revised its policy to better respect patients' rights. As a result of that policy change, the CHP went from being the most irresponsible law enforcement agency with regard to the unlawful seizure of medical marijuana to one of the state's best. As a result of different litigation, also involving ASA, the County of Merced revised its police policy in June 2007 to prevent the unlawful seizure of marijuana from qualified patients.
As a consequence of the high number of medicine seizures, ASA has assisted scores of patients in seeking the return of their property. Although fairly onerous, California criminal courts have a mechanism to seek the return of medical marijuana; patients can file a motion for return of property and request a hearing. According to ASA, at least thirty of these motions have resulted in Superior Court orders and the return of patient medicine. At the same time, an undue number of denials have also occurred. In fact, Kha's case will be heard alongside the case of Jim Spray, a Huntington Beach patient that was denied a court order by a different judge in the same Superior Court that issued Kha's order. This discrepancy makes the issue ripe for an appellate court decision.
Felix Kha backgrounder with links
Garden Grove patient Felix Kha was pulled over by local police on June 10, 2005 for not making a full stop. The police searched Kha’s vehicle without consent and found his approximately 8 grams of medical marijuana. Kha proceeded to show the GGPD officers his doctor’s recommendation, which was met with the response that the then-recent [U.S. Supreme Court] Raich decision made medical marijuana illegal. Kha’s case was dismissed in August 2005, and he immediately asked for the return of his medical marijuana. The next day, Kha obtained a court order for return of property from the Orange County Superior Court. However, when Kha attempted to get his 8 grams back from GGPD, they refused. ASA intervened and wrote two letters to the City of Garden Grove on Kha’s behalf, demanding that it relinquish property that was rightfully his. ASA’s final letter to the City of Garden Grove threatened contempt proceedings.
On October 31, 2005, in an unprecedented move, the City of Garden Grove appealed the Orange County Superior Court ruling to return Kha’s marijuana, filing in the Court of Appeal for the Fourth Appellate District. Then on January 7, 2006, ASA filed an informal opposition on behalf of Kha, who is the real party in interest. Of particular note, California Attorney General (AG) Bill Lockyer filed an amicus (friend of the court) brief on November 1, 2006 in support of Kha and the return of his property. On December 19, 2006, the California Police Chiefs Association filed an amicus brief in support of the City of Garden Grove. A decision by California's Fourth Appellate District is currently pending.
For further information, refer to Felix Kha's return of property case , including a description and legal briefs.
__________________
Don Duncan
Southern California Coordinator
Americans for Safe Access
www.AmericansForSafeAccess.org <http://www.americansforsafeaccess.org/>
Americans for Safe Access (ASA) is the largest national member-based organization of patients, medical professionals, scientists and concerned citizens promoting safe and legal access to cannabis for therapeutic use and research.
Are you an ASA member? ….http://www.AmericansforSafeAccessNow.org/donate
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