Us Nm: Suit: Ban Border-Area Medical Pot Seizures

[+Malamute]

Newshawk: http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm
Pubdate: Wed, 02 Dec 2015
Source: Albuquerque Journal (NM)
Copyright: 2015 Albuquerque Journal
Contact: opinion@abqjournal.com
Website: http://www.abqjournal.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/10
Author: Lauren Villagran

SUIT: BAN BORDER-AREA MEDICAL POT SEIZURES

Deming Man Says He Fears Federal Charges

LAS CRUCES - A Deming man is asking a federal court to bar the U.S.
Border Patrol from seizing medical marijuana at highway checkpoints
near the southern border.

Raymundo Marrufo, a 50-year-old medical marijuana patient, is seeking
a permanent injunction against the Border Patrol in U.S. District
Court in Las Cruces that would order border agents to "cease
questioning U.S. citizens regarding medical cannabis in any states
where the use of medical cannabis has been approved."

In a statement, a Border Patrol spokesman said that the agency does
not comment on pending litigation but added, "Checkpoints are a
critical enforcement tool for carrying out the mission of securing
our nation's borders against transnational threats."

There are no medical marijuana dispensaries in Deming. Marrufo - who
uses medical marijuana to treat post-traumatic stress disorder and
depression - drives to Las Cruces to fill his prescription, according
to the complaint.

On his way home, he must pass through a Border Patrol checkpoint on
Interstate 10 heading west, where agents inquire after motorists'
citizenship. They often have a drug-sniffing dog.

A stipulation known as the Rohrabacher-Farr amendment included in
last year's federal spending bill prohibits the use of federal funds
to enforce laws that interfere with the implementation of "state laws
that authorize the use, distribution, possession or cultivation of
medical marijuana."

Marrufo argues in the complaint that the Border Patrol's enforcement
of federal drug law at checkpoints constitutes a violation of that amendment.

Marijuana remains illegal under federal law.

Should a border agent ask a medical marijuana patient like Marrufo if
he is carrying illegal drugs, the complaint says, a "yes" answer
could subject him to federal indictment for drug smuggling, a felony,
while a "no" could subject him to prosecution for lying to a federal
agent, also a felony.

"This is the collision that has been years in the making," said
Marrufo's Denver-based attorney, Jason Flores-Williams. "We knew this
was coming."

Although the Rohrabacher-Farr amendment offers medical cannabis
dispensaries and patients in Albuquerque and northern New Mexico some
security against federal prosecution, it hasn't made it easier for
growers and consumers in the southern part of the state.

The Border Patrol operates permanent and temporary checkpoints south
of Truth or Consequences on Interstates 25 and 10 and state highways
near the border.

"Many patients are afraid to go through the checkpoint, for fear of
being harassed and having their very expensive medicine confiscated,"
said Hilda Chavez, who has a traditional naturopathic practice in Las
Cruces and prescribes medical marijuana to treat depression, PTSD and
other conditions.

Flores-Williams said part of the problem is that the New Mexico
Department of Health has not licensed enough medical marijuana
dispensaries in southern New Mexico so that patients don't have to
cross Border Patrol checkpoints to fill their prescriptions.

Border agents seized more than 2.4 million pounds of marijuana in
fiscal 2013 between ports of entry and at interior checkpoints. The
agency doesn't keep data on seizures of state-sanctioned medical marijuana.