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Christmastime hospital-room raid busts dying man for using MJ extract | Opinion

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orthene:
https://www.kansas.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/dion-lefler/article270381287.html

If you’re like me, you might question whether raiding a dying man’s hospital room to bust him for possession of marijuana extracts is the best use of police time. But this Christmas season, it happened in Hays.

Police went into a room at Hays Medical Center on Dec. 16 and seized a terminally ill patient’s vaping device and some edible paste containing THC. They cited him for drug possession and set a court date for Jan. 2.

He’s essentially bedridden and in the final stages of terminal, inoperable cancer. I called the Hays Police Department about it. The dispatcher said she’d have someone call me, but that hasn’t happened yet. The news of the bust was relayed to me by one of the patient’s friends. I talked with the patient, 69-year-old Greg Bretz, by phone from his hospital room and he described what happened.

He said he’s “flat on my back” in his hospital bed and can’t stand up unassisted. He’s been using his vaping device and eating a little bit of the THC paste on bread to relieve his symptoms since he was hospitalized about three weeks ago. He said a doctor told him to do whatever he wants if it makes him feel better, because there’s basically nothing medical science can do for him anymore other than hospice care. But a hospital staffer caught him vaping and reported him.

Police were called and three officers came to his room. He said they told him the vaping device was a fire hazard, because the room is equipped with oxygen. That could be a valid concern. Vape devices have a small electronic element that heats liquid to steam for inhalation, and there have been cases where they malfunctioned and patients got burned using them while taking oxygen through a nasal tube. Bretz said he’s not on oxygen. He said the police were mostly intent on seizing his THC paste, which he argued was medicine, because his vaping liquid contains only a trace of THC, if any. He said he’ll try to contact the prosecutor and see if they’ll push back his court appearance. The one certainty in this sorry episode is that he’s not going to make it there. Typically, when a defendant doesn’t appear, a judge will issue an arrest warrant. If it comes to that, well, Bretz will be easy to find. He’s not going anywhere.

Bear in mind that in 47 states and the District of Columbia, this would be a simple issue of violating hospital rules, not a criminal drug-possession charge. Twenty-one states have approved marijuana for recreational as well as medicinal use, including Missouri and Maryland, which just passed it in November elections. Only Kansas, Nebraska and Idaho still fully ban medical marijuana. Word on the street is that this will be the year the Kansas Legislature finally moves some sort of medical marijuana legislation.

They probably have to approve something — the public outcry is too great, the momentum too strong. But there are still far too many Kansas lawmakers stuck in an outdated “Reefer Madness” loop. Rep. Gail Finney, D-Wichita and a longtime sufferer of the autoimmune disease Lupus, made a compelling case for medical marijuana year after year after year. It fell on deaf ears, year after year after year, and she died in August without seeing it come to pass. My prediction is this: Lawmakers will legalize medical marijuana just enough to get themselves off the hook for having a total ban, but then over-regulate it and make it so expensive and hard to get that relatively few people who could benefit will actually be able to have it.

Meanwhile, we can keep raiding hospital rooms and treating dying people like criminals. I think I speak for a majority of Kansans when I say this: To Greg Bretz, and all those who are similarly situated this holiday season, we’re sorry. We sympathize with what you’re going through and if we could change it, we would. May your last Christmas be as joyful as possible under the circumstances.

toy:
Poor guy :snoop: this is  freaking ridiculous.  Hopefully some day our whole country  is legalized  :weed-sign:

jones:
Reason wants you to know that the only reason the cop took the man's marijuana was because a nurse complained

https://reason.com/2023/01/03/brickbat-in-the-weeds/

BurnMan:
Nurse deucebag.

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