Marijuana: SoCal Man Who Told Cops Someone Stole His Weed Can Keep His Dope

By Dennis Romero Fri., Feb. 25 2011 at 11:58 AM

This is legal, maybe.

Oops. We had a little too much fun with the story when we learned that an Orange County man reported earlier this month that someone had burgled his bud -- 25 pounds worth. Really? Just tell 'em nothing was taken was our advice.

As it happens, Newport Beach police tell the Costa Mesa Daily Pilot this week that the victim was okay to possess so much marijuana after all.

Seems to us there's a legal gray area here (even a legislator's aide we called about it couldn't come up with a quick answer about whether having so much cannabis would be legit), but here's the deal, according to the Pilot:

"Under state law, a cultivator can possess up to 8 ounces of marijuana, and six mature or 12 immature plants per patient."

The cultivator has to be a "primary caregiver" for "patients."

We guess this guy had a lot of patients. Cops say he was operating a collective. Out of his Santa Ana Heights home?

Ironically, that could be a bigger problem for authorities, and that aspect of the caper is still under investigation.

The man, who has not been identified, was the victim of a burglary Feb. 6. He didn't call the fuzz. A neighbor who spotted someone breaking in did. But the victim did tell cops some green stuff about yea high was gone.

Interestingly, Assemblyman Tom Ammiano recently introduced a bill that would allow prosecutors to make marijuana cultivation -- currently an automatic felony in California -- a misdemeanor.

If it's an automatic felony, why is growing a little for patients okay?

Bill co-sponsor David Eyster says:

"The proposed change affords local District Attorneys the charging discretion to determine, for example, that a home gardener with a few non-medical marijuana plants will not be prosecuted at the same level as a profiteer operating a major marijuana plantation."

Confused? We are too.

We have a call into our expert at NORML. If he gets back we'll tell you what he says.

Tags:

Ammiano, cultivation, dispensaries, marijuana, medical marijuana, Newport Beach, Orange County, pot shops

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Big Mike

Dennis if you were a marijuana patient would you rely your weed from a complete stranger or a friend that knew how to grow it properly?

Angela Garcia as NeonMosfet

Wow, the thumbnail photo looks like pond frond on bathroom tile in WiiHo on an uptown Saturday night.

Angela Garcia as NeonMosfet

Duncan20903

"If it's an automatic felony, why is growing a little for patients okay?"

That would be because of a little known law called the California Compassionate Use Act, AKA Prop 215, which carved out an exception for patients.

Are you people really that stupid? Why oh why did Darwin quit doing his job?

LegalPatient

Ya seriously, you guys arent showing a bias here at all. Thank god this is closer to a personal blog than it is 'news'.

Cammcollective

Great reporting!!! Thanks for getting all the facts...both times!!

Chadwick M Hanes

If you want to legislate home gardeners, and give more direction, why not just write the law that way? DAs are given way too much leeway in charging marijuana crimes that low-level offenders could be easily made felons for just a couple of plants.

Establish a few tiers with the law just as many other states have: one targeting low-level offenders and one that targets mid-to-high level offenders. You can make the argument for having a "wobbler" on even the high-level offenses, because a blanket felony is never just that simple.

Although you don't need to like everything about it, perhaps something along the lines of the decriminalization bill on www.ca2012.com. Re-prioritize law enforcement and judicial resources, and make the penalties more definable and realistic for crimes that 46.2% of the electorate felt should be legal.

Again, just my two cents Thank you for following this story!