San Diego Patient Gets Her Bongs Back From The Cops

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Photo: Safe Access San Diego
Tiffani Kjeldergaard got her bongs and pipes back from the cops. Now her lawyer is filing a motion to get the pot back, too.

​On January 19, a San Diego medical marijuana patient got her bongs back from the police, winning a seven-month battle after the bongs were seized in June 2009.

Tiffani Kjeldergaard was sentenced in January of 2009 to probation on a non-drug related offense. She continued to use her legal medication and tested positive for THC on drug tests conducted by the probation department until June, when her probation officer decided to stop by her house for a “safety check,” reports Safe Access San Diego.

As would be reasonably expected with a medical marijuana patient, they found marijuana. Tiffani had some dried cannabis, seven immature plants, several bongs, pipes, and cannabis magazines. The police totaled everything up at $12,000 value, and sent out a self-congratulatory press release announcing a great bust.
The police seized all the property and took Kjeldergaard to jail, charging her with violating probation.
Although under pressure by San Diego District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis and her public defender to agree to a plea bargain where she would be sentenced to three years in jail, Tiffani didn’t budge. She refused to bargain with the D.A., and fired her public defender who was telling her to stay in jail and take a deal.
Tiffani maintained, to the prosecution and to her public defender, that she wasn’t breaking the law. She conducted her own research at the jail law library, hired a private attorney, and presented to him the appropriate cases to cite.

Photo: Safe Access San Diego
Tiffani Kjeldergaard enjoys a moment of victory at the probation office: “This is a huge win for us”

​After a San Diego Superior Court hearing where the evidence was presented, not only was Tiffani released from jail, but the judge also changed the terms of Kjeldergaard’s probation to specifically allow her to use medical marijuana.
The judge ordered Tiffani’s bongs, pipes and magazines to be returned.
Shortly after her release and change of probation conditions, Tiffani presented her probation officers with her doctor’s recommendation for medical marijuana, only to be told the probation department didn’t recognize the recommendation without a San Diego County medical marijuana card to go along with it.

Photo: Safe Access San Diego
Thank goodness this poor bong has been returned to its rightful home.

​Tiffani was told that probationers who are medical marijuana patients are now required to also obtain a county card.
Wishing to comply with the rules, and to assist her in continuing to assert her rights as a patient, Kjeldergaard got her county card, brought it back to her probation officer and finally received the green light to legally medicate.
On Tuesday, Tiffani finally got her bongs, pipes, and literature back. “This is a huge win for us,” she said.
Her public defender is currently filing a motion for the return of Tiffani’s medicine and
plants.
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