| Sen. Noreen Evans. |
A law that would force police to return marijuana, marijuana plants and marijuana paraphernalia to people who have their cases dismissed or acquitted is up for a key committee hearing next week.
California state Sen. Noreen Evans clearly rocks and doesn’t want to see good people’s rights violated by overzealous cops who currently destroy marijuana they seize whether the pot was legal or not. Her proposal, Senate Bill 1193, would also force police departments to pay up for pot and bongs they’ve destroyed – something that could start costing departments a lot of money if they aren’t careful.
Evans’ bill also lowers the requirement of how much pot law enforcement has to keep as evidence for a cannabis cultivation trial. Current state laws require them to keep as much as ten pounds of pot and five random samples for each case. Keeping ten pounds of pot is expensive, and because of that the bill has the unlikely support of Northern California law enforcement.
“This bill serves the dual purposes of assisting law enforcement at a practical level with marijuana storage and securing the rights of individuals who are following the law,” Evans said in a release. “It’s not too often we have the collaboration of peace officers and the medical marijuana industry on legislation. Clearly this bill is a solution that reflects good policy for California as we come to terms with some of the more practical and logistical concerns of medical marijuana in the state.”
Senate Bill 1193 is up before the state Senate Appropriations Committee. last day to pass a bill in the California legislature is May 30.
