Local Man Sues Police for Taking His Pot

[kiwi_farmer]

September 23, 2008

KTLA News

Copyright © 2008 Tribune Interactive

 

 

 

SEAL BEACH, California -- A local man is suing the Seal Beach Police Department after he says they confiscated up to 50 of his marijuana plants and forced him to become an informant, court records show.

 

Bruce Benedict, 43, filed the $1 million lawsuit in Orange County Superior Court last month.

 

Benedict states in his lawsuit that he is a patient and caregiver of medical marijuana, which allows him to grow and distribute pot to to patients with prescriptions under California law.

 

Benedict says he called police in February because of illegal construction in his apartment building and officers smelled marijuana.

 

According to the lawsuit, county prosecutors refused to file charges so officers returned to his apartment later with federal agents.

 

The pot was confiscated and Benedict was arrested.

 

Benedict says he gave officers his paperwork that permitted him to smoke and grow cannabis.

 

State law allows a person to have up to six mature marijuana plants but counties have the authority to change that rule. The Orange County Sheriff's Department implements the six-plant criteria, according to spokesman Damon Micalizzi.

 

Federal law prohibits medical marijuana.

 

Benedict's lawsuit states that officers asked him to become a police informant in various drug matters for the city and move out of Seal Beach. He complied with the requests claiming police told him he would face federal charges if he didn't work for them, according to the lawsuit.

 

Benedict says he was prescribed medical marijuana six years ago because he suffers from Hepatitis C and has had kidney failure twice.

 

According to the Los Angeles Superior Court, Benedict was convicted twice in 1998 for drug possession. Benedict says he had small amounts of cocaine on him when he was pulled over by police on two separate occasions. But, he says, he's a different person now.

 

"I am a person who learned the hard way," he said. "That was a long time ago."

 

The city has declined comment.