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Michigan Cop Commits Suicide After Marijuana Butter Considered "not Medically" Usable Marijuana


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Less than a month after pleading guilty to drug house charges over medical marijuana butter, a Michigan cop’s sudden death has been called a suicide. Sergeant Timothy Bernhardt served in his department for 22 years, but a tip from a postal worker led to the eventual searches of the homes of corrections officers Sergeant Tim Bernhardt, Deputy Michael Frederick, and Deputy Todd VanDoorne, as well as Christine Tennant, the wife of Deputy Brian Tennant. All of them believed at the time that the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act protected their possession and use of medical marijuana butter, according to Huffington Press.

 

Sergeant Bernhardt quit his career and pleaded guilty to the charges against him, though the Kent County Sheriff Larry Stelma told the press that there was never any indication that the marijuana was ever provided to anyone without a medical marijuana card. Bernhardt faced two years in prison and up to a $25,000 fine, according to WOODTV. The sergeant previously held a clean criminal record.

The officers’ lawyers also explained that the only drug activity involved in the case involved medical marijuana and the cops had legally obtained medical marijuana cards.

The issue at the center of the arrests was a technicality in the law: Marijuana infused butter is not officially deemed “usable” marijuana under the 2008 law.

After much debate, a Michigan Court of Appeals ruled that marijuana butter was not considered medical marijuana in July of last year, according to Huffington Post. In response to that ruling, in December of last year, the Michigan House voted 100-9 to include products made with resin, including marijuana butter, in the definition of legal, usable medical marijuana. That bill was still in the Michigan Senate at the time of the arrests.

After Sergeant Bernhardt’s sudden death, a Kent County Sheriff representative declined to comment, saying in an email to MLIVE, “we typically do not comment on any suicides.”

“Tim was the most honorable man I ever met in my life,” Bernhardt’s wife wrote of her late husband just following his suicide. “Please pray for peace in our family.”

On the day that Bernhardt pleaded guilty, he was embraced by deputies waiting outside the courtroom, a moment that the attorney said speaks volumes about his character. His supporters say he was proud of his service to his community and loved his family.

Michigan marijuana advocates are making strides. In October, a Michigan appeals court ruled that employees fired over medical marijuana still qualify for unemployment benefits. Soon, all Michiganders will likely be able to make full use of marijuana resin edibles, including marijuana butter. In December, the remaining Michigan cops who took plea deals will be sentenced, but Sergeant Bernhardt’s suicide will always remain one of many tragedies, according to advocates, in the history of Michigan medical marijuana.

Read more at http://www.inquisitr.com/1648963/michigan-cop-commits-suicide-after-marijuana-butter-considered-not-medically-usable-marihuana/#WMf5VUBppBxV3dJY.99

 

 

 

 

http://www.inquisitr.com/1648963/michigan-cop-commits-suicide-after-marijuana-butter-considered-not-medically-usable-marihuana/

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Frankly I am numbified to see this news.  There was no excuse for the treatment he received knowing what they (what WE ALL KNOW) knew about Medicinal Cannabis...  It seems to me (simply by way of reason) they were trying to make him the poster child of what it means to cross the lines in any way shape or form... This is the shame and humiliation that MUST STOP "from within" but caused from stigmas created by lies.  Really, it seems he could have been black, unarmed and shot by a white officer... I am left with the same sick feeling as if it were.

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Street cops look at jail guards with disgust. My brother was a Bloomfield Hills cop them moved to Ironwood and got a job at Camp Ojibway as a guard. He told me that. How much more punishment should the guy have gotten? He manned up and pleaded GUILTY. His family is devasted,he KNEW what cops are like and that they would NEVER leave him alone. Now he is dead. Man that just ain't right. The article does say he was a corrections officer........... Postal worker,huh? Gee,they see when everybody gets their cards from LARA,don't they? And their SSI checks,IRS checks,my hubs paycheck comes in the mail too.

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Street cops look at jail guards with disgust. My brother was a Bloomfield Hills cop them moved to Ironwood and got a job at Camp Ojibway as a guard. He told me that. How much more punishment should the guy have gotten? He manned up and pleaded GUILTY. His family is devasted,he KNEW what cops are like and that they would NEVER leave him alone. Now he is dead. Man that just ain't right. The article does say he was a corrections officer........... Postal worker,huh? Gee,they see when everybody gets their cards from LARA,don't they? And their SSI checks,IRS checks,my hubs paycheck comes in the mail too.

 

 

If a postal worker "reported" that you got mail from the Mi. Medical Marijuana Program, they would be guilty of a HIPPA violation for disclosing protected medical information, and they could be sued until their sphincter said ouch.

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also hes not a "michigan cop" but a "kent county jail guard" ... watch your headlines :P

If your working towards becoming an officer on the beat, you first have to spend time as a deputy, working the jail. After 2 years, or more you can start working the streets, if there's a need within the department.

 

If the guy who was just sentenced had a law degree he may have had hopes at one time, of becoming a sheriff as that's a requirement.

 

"Law enforcement officers working for an agency headed by a sheriff are typically titled sheriff's deputy, deputy sheriff, sheriff's police, or sheriff's officer, and are so-titled because they are deputized by the sheriff and charged with performing all the duties prescribed to the sheriff by that state's law."

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