For Cathy Jordan it began as a banner day. A hearing was just held unveiling the “Cathy Jordan Medical Cannabis Act,” legislation to legalize medical marijuana for people like Cathy Jordan who suffers from Lou Gehrig’s Disease and is wheelchair-bound. Hours after a news account of the hearing was published, officers raided her home with drawn guns and seized their marijuana plants used for her illness. The police from the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office insist it was a coincidence.

Cathy and Robert Jordan were home when the police arrived. Robert, 64, was asleep on this easy chair at 2 pm when the police appeared with their guns drawn.

The police say that a real estate agent saw an extension cord that “looked funny” and proceeded to look through the fence and saw the marijuana plants.

Dave Bristow, sheriff’s office spokesman, insisted that the deputies saw the plants, had probable cause, and seized the property.

Twenty-three plants were confiscated. The plants were valued between $1,200 and $1,500.

Putting aside the coincidence, the case reaffirms the lunacy of our marijuana policies that take away resources from more serious criminal matters. Here officers raid a home of a sick person and take away a drug that she says relieves her pain. Here is my view: if someone is dying from Lou Gehrig’s Disease, I am not horrified by her using pot to relieve her pain. Call me crazy but that appears to be the overwhelming view of most citizens. Yet, our politicians continue to feed a mass drug enforcement complex that arrests citizens and seizes property. While this case did not involve a greater seizure of property, many of these units are now the source of revenue streams associated with drug forfeiture.

The only good aspect of this case is that local police have proven the dire need for the “Cathy Jordan Medical Cannabis Act.”

Source: Bradenton