Seattle police agree to return medical pot records

The Seattle police department agreed Thursday to return files on more than 500 medical marijuana patients to the headquarters of a patient support group, two days after seizing them during a search. Prosecutors said no charges will be filed.

Douglas Hiatt, an attorney representing activist Martin Martinez, who runs the Lifevine cooperative and Cascadia NORML in the University District, said he was told he could pick up the files Thursday afternoon. Earlier, Hiatt said, King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg assured him the records would not be reviewed or copied.

The search occurred Tuesday after a police bicycle officer responded to a complaint of a strong odor of marijuana in the building. No one was arrested but officers seized about 12 ounces of marijuana in addition to the patient files and a computer, and they dismantled part of a wall looking for what they thought might be a hidden grow operation.

"Police gathered these items because they reasonably believed that they showed an effort to distribute marijuana in violation of state law," Satterberg said in a written statement Thursday. "We are satisfied that the individual in question is authorized to possess marijuana for medical purposes under Washington state law, and that the amount in his possession was arguably within the '60-day supply' permitted by statute."

Hiatt says that for now, police are keeping the marijuana they seized as well as two bongs. He says he still plans to ask to have the marijuana returned because Martinez was complying with the state's medical marijuana law.

Martinez is a longtime advocate of legalizing the medical use of marijuana, following a severe motorcycle crash that left him with nerve damage in 1986. Three other patients authorized to use pot under Washington's medical marijuana law were also present when officers arrived at the office, which does not dispense marijuana, he said.

"Officers should not have confiscated patient records and property. They know that now, and there should be no further problems arising from this event," Martinez wrote in an e-mail to friends and supporters. "We understand the police are just trying to do their jobs and did not act maliciously."

Cascadia NORML has been issuing identity cards to medical marijuana patients, but before doing so, it requires the patients to provide their medical authorizations for verification. That's why the patient files were in the office, Martinez said. The cards are not issued pursuant to the state's medical marijuana law, but are designed to help identify the patient as legitimate if the person is confronted by police.

Some of the patients listed in the files are now dead, and some others are no longer actively using marijuana. The seized documents included patient authorizations, full medical histories, and the names of doctors who authorized the marijuana use, Hiatt said.

Under Washington's medical marijuana law, doctors can authorize patients to have as much as a 60-day supply of marijuana to treat symptoms of AIDS, cancer and other debilitating or chronic conditions. The law doesn't define what a 60-day supply is, but the state Health Department proposed this month that it be defined as 24 ounces of usable pot, along with six mature plants and 18 immature plants. Marijuana remains illegal under federal law.