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Police Ordered to Return Confiscated Pot

Monday, February 09, 2004



Give the pot back, the judge told the cops.

Santa Cruz, Calif., police pulled over a car with tinted windows — a no-no in California — last September, reports the Santa Cruz Sentinel. Inside they found two men and 18 ounces of "Purple Haze" brand marijuana worth about $3,000.

Leo Beus, 47, and his friend, Jon Balesteri, 54, were charged with transporting marijuana with intent to sell, but after they said they'd bought the weed at the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Club — and produced medical prescriptions to prove it — the charges were eventually dropped.

California's medical-marijuana law (search) allows individuals to grow, smoke or otherwise use pot under a doctor's recommendation. A federal appeals court ruling in December upheld the law despite federal laws making pot illegal.

Superior Court Judge Art Danner (search) on Wednesday ordered that since the marijuana, which had been seized as evidence, was entirely legal, the police had to return it to Beus and Balestri.

In the hallway outside the courtroom, which the Sentinel reported reeked of the repossessed marijuana, the two men thanked defense attorney Ben Rice.

"Thanks, man, you're a sweetheart," said Balesteri, an ex-truck driver who said he suffers from migraines, carpal-tunnel syndrome and hepatitis C.

"Yes, thanks, it's been great," said Beus, a landscaper with two broken vertebrae who says regular pain medication nauseates him. "Santa Cruz has come a long way. I'm really grateful."

http://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly ... 96,00.html

Bet it was a hell of a victory celebration.

<img src="http://www.worldaffairsboard.com/sigs/snipersig.jpg " border=0>

Yeah kinda like a Cheech and Chong party.

By this time tomorrow I shall have gained either a pearage or Westminster Abbey........Nelson

_________________
YGBSM !

Is Beus and Balesteri Croatian or something for Beevus and Butthead? And to the cops credit, they still had it to return!

Hajji, you can run, but why die tired?<img src=newicons/anim_lol.gif border=0 align=middle>

Edited by - 30mike-mike on Feb 09 2004 10:41 AM

_________________
\"Those who hammer their guns into plows
will plow for those who do not.\"
- Thomas Jefferson

maybe it was just oregino upon return, who tested for quality.

<img src=icon_smile_shock.gif border=0 align=middle>What are you saying, mattlock?<img src=icon_smile_wink.gif border=0 align=middle>

Hajji, you can run, but why die tired?

_________________
\"Those who hammer their guns into plows
will plow for those who do not.\"
- Thomas Jefferson