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"Compliance Checks" in Post-Kelley California

nomaad

Active member
Veteran
I'm interested in hearing what people think about the phenomenon of "compliance checks" of medical marijuana gardens that has been common throughout this part of California.

Last year, I welcomed the Sherrif into my garden where we were 9 plants over the limit in our black box and in compliance with SB420(18 plants for 3 scripts) in our full season. He politely ordered us to take down the 9 plants, even though our scripts explicitly recommend 25 plants. He said that his directives are to follow state law which, at the time, followed the now-opined-upon SB420 as it relates to plant and possession limits.

We took em down. He returned a day earlier than he had said he would to re-check our compliance. I felt at the time like I was (willingly) giving up my civil (letting him onto my property without a warrant) and patient's (to have 25 plants) rights in order to obtain a pass for the rest of the season...

This year, the deputy will have no such luck. In the next week or so I will be meeting with an attorney to discuss the matter. I'm considering asking the attorney to draft a letter that states our intention to sue, cites the relevant case law (including the supreme court decision), and demands that the DA is immediately contacted if the deputy wishes to enter the property... or makes tries to make us take down plants...

Any thoughts? I haven't been keeping up with the ICM legal discussions in the off-season as much as I probably should have, though I have been reading the articles in the news threads as they pop up. Hopefully, the guys I remember for their cogent analysis will chime in here.

Anyhow... I am not attached to the above plan in any way. Trying to hone my understanding in the week before I meet with the attorney.

Questions I have are: Are Compliance Checks legal in the first place? What probable cause does a deputy need to assume you are NOT in compliance. Assumption of innocence and all that. Will my script's recommended numbers be respected? Specifically in Lake county, but also in other places? Is there any precedent yet? Will the confusion that has been going on in the courts lead the counties to back off of compliance checks?

Mendo just published it new guidelines. 99's are back!! but the amount of red tape to legitimize a 99 plant collective grow is... scary to say the least.

Anyhow... what does everybody think?

Some
 

CaptainTrips

Active member
Just curious, I don't know if what happened was legal. But how did the pigs come to know that you even had plants in the first place? Did you have them in plain sight? If anything, what happened, is a good reason to tell nobody and show nobody, regardless of your legal status.
 

DoobieDuck

Senior Member
ICMag Donor
Veteran
Nomaad you have posted some good questions, I'm going to sit in here and wait for clarification from our more informed members. You area may not be the only affected, Thanks for posting..DD
 
M

Marywanna

I wonder if you are a legal pt,grower or caregiver,if your name is on some State Govt list that LEO can get ahold of...................I know it sounds paranoid......MW
 

ESCOknows

Member
when i was up there 05-07 they stoped by a few times . one time the property owner didnt have enough scripts(one had just expired) and they just let it slide , we were obviously trying to obey the laws i mean shit who even knows what the laws really are?....
we were more concerned with the fed choppers that were hovering over our place in 07 counting plants . they landed on our mountain and busted one of our homies. robbed both his 99 plant parcels which were about 1 mile apart from each other , took his truck, and destroyed his property , and filed no charges what so ever, just a huge smash and grab took about 400 pounds worth of trainwreck and bubba kush. wouldnt worry about local leo , just the fed basterds.
 

nomaad

Active member
Veteran
Just curious, I don't know if what happened was legal. But how did the pigs come to know that you even had plants in the first place? Did you have them in plain sight? If anything, what happened, is a good reason to tell nobody and show nobody, regardless of your legal status.

A neighbor called the Sheriff about the "HUGE GROW" on the corner. Granted, we came in and immediately built a massive fence and planted a large garden... there is a small rural neighborhood down the block and my house is on the corner they all turn in on. Bit of a scene. We found out that they were the rats later in the season... they bragged about it at a water association meeting that we are not part of... we have a well.

The deputy is about 6'7" and could see over the part of the gate he walked up to. Once you look over our fence (which you have to walk up to it to do and, if you are not a NBA power forward, hop up to see over.

I've got no real beef... I knew that the county was enforcing SB420. The extra nine were just an experiment... a safe one considering other people's experiences in the area. Our paperwork was legit and I was cool with letting him in... this year, i am still going to be following the law, but I don't know how the local LEO is going to be enforcing it... I will have more to lose and I will not be dropping my drawers this time.

Update: I found the attorney I am going to use. I'm going to call tomorrow. This is what they do.
 

nomaad

Active member
Veteran
Seems like the feds didn't do all that much smashin and grabbin in 09. Their major enforcement effort was focused on large grows on public land and cases where water was being diverted from public land... There is a great audio file posted somewhere on here that has 45 minutes of the feds, camp and county sheriffs talking about their operations last year. good stuff.

I will have my shit as legally tight this year as it was last year. I will respect their laws and hopefully they will respect my civil and patient's rights this year...Not the perfect world, but I can work with it.

I'm not looking for a discussion where we talk about how the man has his foot on our necks and beware the feds and all... I'm hoping to develop a working understanding of the legal climate in which we are all operating in this year in Cali.
 
Nomaad - you bring up some great questions. While I can't offer any helpful advice, I look forward to hearing your experiences. Best of luck...
 

jd4083

Active member
Veteran
seems to me that you're poking the hornet's nest with a stick seeing as how every single thing you're doing is federally illegal...jmo
 

nomaad

Active member
Veteran
I'mNot: you obviously have not read my other threads. i am a (aspiring) big plant grower... . my crop has been vegging for months. Tom Hill looks at my babies with envy when he visits... in the end, his will be bigger than mine though... its not just about how long they vegged... its about how much dirt you put em in. Mine will max out in their 200's before Tom's do in 300's.

That's not the point. This is a discussion about plant NUMBERS in a post-Kelley reality.

jd4083: also besides the point. this thread is for the discussion of plant limits as provided for by Prop 215, ammended by SB420 and clarified in the Supreme Court of California's opinion upholding the overturning of the guilty verdict in the People v Kelley.

Any on-topic posts are much appreciated.
 

sourD

New member
75 plants and 5lbs

75 plants and 5lbs

My doctor recommends 75 plants and 5 lbs possession for my medical condition and this year it is 24/7 verifiable online and by phone. When you read the Kelly decision (all 56 pages of it) http://americansforsafeaccess.org/downloads/Kelly_Ruling.pdf It very clearly supports a doctors opinion as being the best guideline for how much a patient should have. Cops might not like it but it is the law of the land. Everybody in our collective will have specific written and verifiable plant allowances to cover our total plants or they will count as 6 mature like in sb420. The Kelly decision also cites all the relevant case law so it would be easy to write up something defining your rights but the DA will already know what it says.
 
Yeah I've wondered myself, its gotta be enough for reasonable suspiscion, maybe neighbors reporting smell, condensation/glacieation, traffic, visable hps light leaks, noise , scales vacuum sealer bags, 10K+ cash@ any one time, yay-yo-crank-H...etc. All the things that would make neighbors or rippers think "dang it I think someone is growng a room full of skunky dollarbills". No smell no sell no tell = no jail cell hell.
 
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justpassnthru

Active member
Veteran
:1help:a bit of an update to an old thread...

In the Inland Empire the cops are showing up at 'grower/patient' doors and saying they have a '911' call and trying to get in :whiteflag:to harass growers.

Always be vigilant. :nanana: jpt
 

yesum

Well-known member
ICMag Donor
Veteran
^^ That happened to me. I had a cop show up at midnight saying I called 911. I did not let him in of course. I am in IE area.

I had laundry going and the pig smelled Tide. I have a good carbon filter too.

I wondered about the call and if this asshole was fishing for pot growers. I thought it likely and now you confirm it. I have a tiny 2x2 tent and do not sell.

Protect and Serve. Think they are protecting their jobs and serving themselves mostly.
 
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