Denver, CO: A US District Court judge ruled yesterday that federal law enforcement officers cannot be held in contempt for failing to follow a state judge’s order to return medical cannabis and grow equipment seized from a state-licensed patient.
“I find that (the agents) were performing acts that were authorized or that they reasonably believed were authorized by valid federal law,” US District Court Judge Walker Miller decided.
In 2003, six federal law enforcement agents raided the home of Donald Nord, seizing three cannabis plants and marijuana paraphernalia. A county court judge later dismissed state charges against Nord, who is authorized by the Colorado Department of Public Health to possess and use medical cannabis to treat chronic pain and other symptoms related to cancer and diabetes, and ordered his property returned. Federal law enforcement officials denied the court’s order, and petitioned the US District Court to dismiss the criminal contempt of court citation.
Refusing to return Nord’s cannabis and other items is consistent with federal law, the US District Court ruled.
For more information, please contact Allen St. Pierre, NORML Executive Director, at (202) 483-5500.