Pubdate: Tue, 23 Sep 2008 Source: Daily Titan (CA Edu) Copyright: 2008 The Daily Titan Contact: http://www.dailytitan.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4762 Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis) WEED GREED A Seal Beach resident is challenging county restrictions on medicinal marijuana. He is suing in Orange County Superior Court for violation of civil, health and safety code violations, as well as breach of contract after Drug Enforcement Agents raided his apartment and confiscated 40 to 50 marijuana plants, according to the Orange County Register. Bruce Benedict, 43, was given a prescription for the controversial drug six years ago because he suffers from Hepatitis C and has had kidney failure twice, he said. When Seal Beach Police officers first confronted the amateur botanist, he showed them paperwork that he claims gives him permission to smoke, grow and distribute medicinal cannabis, according to his lawsuit. California residents voted to legalize medicinal marijuana in 1996, but federal law still prohibits it, a contradiction many Orange County cities are struggling with. As it stands, state law gives the county power to restrict the amount of marijuana plants a patient can grow at home. That is unless a medical doctor feels a patient has an intensified need for the drug, in which case state law allows doctors to override county restrictions. For example, Orange County officials have set the limit to six plants per home where a patient is living. Six plants? How about 50? We know that there may be special exceptions for some patients, or even approved distributors, but how did Benedict get a distributor approval in the first place? Benedict admits he is a "person who learned the hard way," when it comes to drug abuse. In 1988 Benedict was convicted twice of possession of narcotics, cocaine specifically, according to the Register, whose source for the information was Los Angeles Superior Court. We can't help but feel that he brought this incident upon himself by producing the plant on a larger-than-average scale. Maybe if he lived on a 50-acre farm in Northern California, with his closest neighbor living six miles away, he would have been able to continue with what he did. But in an apartment in Seal Beach, where you're potentially sharing walls with your neighbors - what was he thinking? I guess six plants of unspecified size was not enough? We can't help but feel that he individually threatened patients liberties. Legalizing marijuana was no small feat. It puts California in the forefront of true liberty and democracy. Now he'll possibly face-off with bureaucrats, politicians, judges, lawyers, media, supporters and detractors, over his selfish choice to grow as much pot as he could fit in an apartment. To be clear, we are not criticizing the drug, the states decision to legalize the drug, or even local authorities getting involved in a federal raid. We are criticizing Benedict's judgment because his actions shine a negative light to a controversial law, perhaps ruining medical marijuana for those who truly need it.