Why the police should be held responsible for the destruction of legally grown cannabis

For those of us who have smoked cannabis long enough, our relationship with the police is not the best. However, this mistrust is not unjustified. You can simply look through the arrest logs for the past 20 years to see how cannabis users have been attacked and accused of simple possession

While cannabis may still be illegal at the federal level, many states have legalized it for recreational or medicinal purposes. This has changed the dynamic between the police and people legally sanctioned to grow weed. However, the bulls still have many advantages when it comes to harassing cannabis users and breeders alike.

A recent Forbes article illustrated how the police can get away with destroying hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of goods and not having a legal obligation to pay compensation to those affected by an unlawful seizure.

Photo by MattGush / Getty Images

The story is about Chelsea Sutula, CEO of cannabis retailer Sespe Creek, who was illegally arrested by Ventura County Sheriff’s MPs in 2016 and sold $ 350,000 worth of cannabis and an additional $ 34,000 in cash Sespe Creek Collective confiscated.

After her arrest, she would fight criminal charges for the next five years, which were subsequently dropped. She was also refunded, but had to file a civil lawsuit against the sheriff’s department to have her cannabis returned.

The cannabis was in an evidence locker for five years and over time. After bed bugs, mold and natural degradation took place, the entire seizure was made “worthless”. The £ 25 was eventually delivered to Chelsea, but at that point there was no monetary value left for the harvest.

The problem isn’t with the police bringing the weed back – this is actually perfectly normal police practice, especially if they have a false accusation or conviction – it’s the nature of cannabis itself.

Police officers don’t have to specifically store the cannabis they seize, which means they can literally just toss it in an evidence drawer and look away. In the case of Chelsea, it took a whopping five years before they were instructed to return it to its rightful owner.

While many law enforcement agencies argue that the safe storage of cannabis inhibits their ability to investigate criminal misconduct, places like Oregon require the police to keep the cannabis in a “usable condition” and pay compensation to owners if it is found that the harvest is legal. However, this only applies to medical cannabis.

RELATED: Marijuana is legal almost everywhere, but weed-related busts are on the rise

More importantly, due to the illegality of cannabis at the federal level, there are serious issues with police returns of cannabis. According to Forbes:

Other states don’t even do that much. In 2017, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled, in a ruling by a judge believed to have been shortlisted by former President Donald Trump for US Supreme Court candidates, that law enforcement in that state “did not use cannabis the legal process “can return enforcement obligations.”

Returning legal cannabis to citizens who should not have been allowed to confiscate it is only permitted if “it complies with state and federal laws.” Since cannabis is still illegal under federal law, just returning it by law enforcement agencies is “similar to distributing a controlled substance,” the University of Colorado-Boulder reported in a press release.

Photo by Sven Mieke via Unsplash

Now Chelsea Sutula is trying to sue the Ventura County Sheriff’s office for legal compensation and this is definitely something that could make waves across the country if more places are legalized. If Sutula is successful, it would encourage the police to make sure that if they do seize legal cannabis, they have to store it appropriately or pay the difference.

It did so once back in 2010 when a medical cannabis patient in the San Luis Obispo district won a case against the police and received $ 20,000 in compensation for six pounds of cannabis. If Sutula wins, it would be the largest payout in the country from a police agency to an unjustly accused person (collective).

Why this matters and why cannabis insurance is going to be a big deal

Once again, one of the main issues in this story is the illegality of cannabis at the federal level. We are seeing more and more states legalize, and as a result, many legal companies could be targeted by the police. I am not saying that the police are targeting these businesses to harass them, but we are saying that if the police make a mistake, they should be held responsible for the property.

RELATED: Here’s What Happened To The 100,000 Cannabis Plants That Was Confiscated From The Historic Bust Of The San Fran Area

Think of it this way: if the cops seized a Lambo and then returned it scratched, a few tires missing and the door removed, they would be held responsible for the condition of the goods. Cannabis is a good too, and currently you can return it “all scratched” and damaged without incurring any consequences for your actions.

This is something we need to look into as we push legalization across the country. We’re getting to a point where these types of judgments need to be addressed, especially since one in two Americans lives in a place where cannabis is reasonably legal. If we look at the cultivation of hemp, which can sometimes be mistaken for illegal drugs, the entire nation is governed by some kind of cannabis law.

There must be some rules about engagement and remuneration.