By REBECCA CATHCART, The New York Times
LOS ANGELES, Nov. 29 — A California appeals court has ordered the police in Garden Grove to return marijuana that was seized from a man during a routine traffic stop, ruling that enforcement of federal drug laws did not supersede the state’s allowance of marijuana for medicinal purposes.
The man, Felix Kha, had a doctor’s prescription for the marijuana, which he used for the treatment of chronic pain.
In the ruling issued Wednesday, a three-judge panel from the state’s Fourth District Court of Appeals cited constitutional principles of federalism and power-sharing between state and national governments in ordering the marijuana returned. California law allows for the prescription and possession of medical marijuana in amounts of less than eight ounces.
Police officers pulled over Mr. Kha in Garden Grove, south of Los Angeles, in 2005 for running a stop sign. When they asked him if he was in possession of any illegal substances, Mr. Kha, now 22, said he had marijuana prescribed to him by a doctor. Officers seized the marijuana, about a quarter of an ounce, and cited Mr. Kha for possession of marijuana and a traffic violation.
Mr. Kha pleaded guilty to running the stop sign and asked the judge for the return of his marijuana. After hearing proof of the authenticity of the doctor’s note, he was given permission to retrieve the marijuana.
But the Garden Grove Police Department refused to return it when Mr. Kha presented them with the court order, said his lawyer, Joe Elford of Americans for Safe Access, a group that advocates medicinal uses of marijuana.
“He had to go to court three times to get this order,” Mr. Elford said. “When the police have no probable cause to believe that people are violating state law, they shouldn’t be seizing their medical marijuana or citing them.” More…
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