Federal court orders confiscated pot to be returned to owner

Twenty-two-year-old Felix Kha will be reunited with the marijuana police took from him two and a half years ago, ruled the 4th District Court of Appeal.

Lawyers for Garden Grove said they were not seeking to have the state's medical marijuana laws declared unconstitutional on pre-emptive grounds, but were simply arguing that the city did not want to be in the position of having to return marijuana to a patient once it has been seized -- lawfully under federal law -- by police.
Kha's attorneys argued that the 10th Amendment to the Constitution effectively prohibits federal interference with California's medical marijuana laws, and the three-justice panel of the 4th District Court of Appeal agreed.
The justices found that because, under state law, Kha was lawfully entitled to possess the marijuana, "due process and fundamental fairness dictate that it be returned to him."
The justices said Kha is "nothing more than an aggrieved citizen who is seeking the return of his property."

Link (Via LAist)

Mark Frauenfelder is the founder of Boing Boing and the editor-in-chief of MAKE and Cool Tools. Twitter: @frauenfelder. Come and hear Mark speak at the ALA conference in Chicago on July 1.

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arto

Garden Grove, eh? You’d think a town named after a Sublime song would be a little more mellow.
Mitch

I’m wondering how much it cost him to get back
his $50-$80 bag of stale marijuana.

It’s a good precedent, though.
Plural of Mongoose

There is currently a similar case [http://cbs4denver.com/local/local_story_332223209.html] going on in Fort Collins, CO right now, where the police had destroyed 39 cannabis plants, which they were subsequently ordered to return.

The city attorney is appealing that decision, but the police may be hoist by their own petard on that one. Using their methods of calculation, the value of the destroyed plants is around US$100,000, which is far in excess of the true value of the plants – a fact the Fort Collins police are currently trying to wriggle out of.

Disclaimer: I am involved in the cannabis seed business.
mrfitz

Judge: “The court orders the return of the confiscated marijuana to the plaintiff.”

Police: “But your honor, we’ve already smoked half of it.”
Yamara

The Tenth was always one of my favorites.
akbar56

2.5 years later? Man, that stuff is going to be dried out.
Cpt. Tim

they should have to supply him with a fresh batch of the same amount.
douglips

I believe this is a State court, not a Federal court as the headline says.

http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/courts/courtsofappeal/4thDistrictDiv1/
membeth

It is a state court, not a federal court. “District” courts in the federal court system are trial courts, not courts of appeals. Federal courts of appeals are called circuit courts. California is in the 9th Circuit.
ill lich

DUDE!
lupinstel

They were totally bogarting his weed.