Pubdate: Fri, 29 Aug 2003
Source: Times-Standard (CA)
Copyright: 2003 MediaNews Group, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.times-standard.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1051

MISSING ACTIVIST WINS BACK DISPUTED OUNCE OF POT

Missing medical marijuana activist Christopher Robert Giauque appears to 
have won a four-year battle to reclaim an ounce of pot seized during a 1999 
traffic stop.

On Monday, Chief Judge Marilyn Patel of the U.S. District Court, Northern 
California, ruled the ounce of marijuana be returned to the activist.

The case gained notoriety in spring 2001, when a Humboldt County Superior 
Court judge found then-Sheriff Dennis Lewis in contempt of court for 
refusing to return the marijuana to Giauque, who is a medical marijuana 
patient. Giauque also was arrested at one point for attempting to stage a 
free medical pot give-away on the steps of the county courthouse to protest 
his predicament.

In summer 2001, a federal judge ordered the disputed pot turned over to the 
Drug Enforcement Administration, where it was presumed destroyed.

Last month on Aug. 9, Giauque turned up missing. The Southern Humboldt 
County resident was reportedly last seen traveling to the Spy Rock area to 
meet a friend. Family members, who say they've put up a $50,000 reward for 
information leading to his whereabouts, suspect foul play.

On Thursday, Sheriff Gary Philp said the investigation into the 
disappearance continues, but so far to no avail. When asked to comment on 
this week's court decision, Philp said at that point he'd only heard about 
it through a telephone conversation with Giauque's Arcata attorney, Bryce 
Kenny.

"I'm not in the habit of disobeying a direct order from a federal judge," 
Philp said. "But we'd have to review the decision."

Kenny, in a press statement, noted the ironic timing of the decision.

"This week's ruling affirmed that the DEA had overstepped its bounds, and 
(is) seen as a victory for states' rights on the long-smoldering issue of 
possession of medical marijuana," Kenny said. "The victory was tempered by 
the fact that Giauque's family ... thinks he may have come to harm."
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