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SAN FRANCISCO - The City and County of San Francisco, the San Francisco Police Department and three law enforcement officers were named in a lawsuit by a San Francisco man who says his medical marijuana was wrongfully seized, according to documents filed on March 2 in the San Francisco County Superior Court.
Plaintiff James Asher is a qualified medical marijuana patient and medical marijuana cultivator. In January 2018, he had 130 pounds of marijuana cultivated and ready for distribution to other medical marijuana users in accordance with California state law.
A fire broke out at or near Asher's site where he grows and cultivates the plant, and when San Francisco FD arrived to extinguish the fire, they saw the marijuana and notified the police department, the suit says.
According to the lawsuit, the responding officers entered the site without a warrant and conducted an illegal investigation. The officers obtained a search warrant to then seize the marijuana, despite Asher being a lawful user and distributor, the suit says.
Asher was charged with possession and intent to sell, but the charges were dropped, the suit says. The marijuana remained in police custody for more than a year-and-a-half, so it degraded to a point of being unusable, the suit says.
The officers named in the suit are Sergeant Healy, Officer Welker and Officer Elmore.
The defendants are charged with violating the California Constitution, conversion and equitable relief under Minsky and Holt. Asher is requesting the court deem the police department's actions unlawful and that damages for his losses be paid.
The plaintiff is represented by Joseph D. Elford.