Pubdate: Sun, 04 Jul 2010
Source: Missoulian (MT)
Copyright: 2010 Missoulian
Contact:  http://www.missoulian.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/720
Author: Kahrin Deines

BILLINGS POLICE TAKE ON DUTY OF DELIVERING MEDICAL POT WHEN PARCEL 
SERVICES WON'T

BILLINGS - The conflict between state and federal laws over the 
legality of medical marijuana is forcing some law enforcement 
officers to take on the unwelcome duty of delivering pot that 
caregivers attempt to ship through a parcel service.

Over the past year, the Billings Police Department has received an 
increasing number of calls from FedEx and UPS workers who discover 
packages containing what appears to be legal medical marijuana. A 
police investigator must then pick up the package, make phone calls 
to determine whether it is a legal product produced by a medical 
marijuana caregiver who is registered with the state and notify the 
distributor to retrieve the shipment.

All that can add up to several hours of police time. Then, the 
caregiver may not pick up their product, saddling the cops with 
returning the marijuana to them personally.

"We don't want to be in the middle as a broker," said Billings Police 
Chief Rich St. John. "We're wasting a lot of time investigating and 
looking into legitimate businesses."

*

Montana's medical marijuana law allows caregivers to possess six 
plants or 1 ounce of marijuana for every patient. Both patients and 
caregivers must register with the state Department of Public Health 
and Human Services, and patients must identify who is their caregiver.

Despite this limited legalization of marijuana for some medical uses, 
the parcel services refuse to transport the drug, even if it stays 
within the state's borders.

"Although we understand Montana has passed a law and citizens are 
permitted to ship it and use it under state law, federal law 
criminalizes the possession of marijuana, so as a result, FedEx is 
not going to take the risk of criminal prosecution by accepting such 
shipments," said Sally Davenport, a FedEx spokeswoman.

The resulting predicament is extremely frustrating for narcotics 
detectives, especially when there is a risk that the marijuana 
providers involved may not be fully complying with the state's law.

"If everything turns out fine, we've just wasted our detective for 
several hours," said Sgt. Brian Korell, who leads the department's 
City-County Special Investigations Unit. "I'm paying a guy to 
investigate a legal business when I should be paying him to 
investigate true criminals."

But in one recent worst-case scenario, police were notified by 
federal agents that they had identified a detective returning pot to 
a home under video surveillance.

*

Tom Daubert, who heads the medical marijuana advocacy group Patients 
and Families United, said tax dollars should not be spent paying 
officers to reunite caregivers with their products when they are 
ignoring the parcel services' shipping rules.

"Caregivers shouldn't ship cannabis in that way at all, and if they 
choose to take that risk, they shouldn't expect the delivery to be 
made," Daubert said.

Nevertheless, Korell said, the marijuana has a rightful owner and it 
cannot be destroyed without creating a legal liability for the department.

"We are in a very, very difficult situation with this, and we are 
trying to do the best we can for all parties," Korell said.
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart