Thursday, December 23, 2010

Missoula nursing home raided by SWAT over medical marijuana caregiver

By "Radical" Russ Belville on February 12, 2010

On the heels of Karri’s story on the show yesterday of the Redding, California, nursing home manager who was booted against the residents’ wishes for his medical marijuana use, we get another medical marijuana nursing home story from Missoula, Montana:

(Missoula Independent) Missoula police raided a local nursing home last week after receiving a tip that an individual was selling marijuana to its residents. The suspected dealer, Taylor Gibbs, 22, was found to be a medical marijuana caregiver registered with the state, and no charges were filed.

SWAT Raid at Nursing Home

Missoula Independent

Gibbs says on the morning of Feb. 3 a Missoula S.W.A.T. team and the Missoula Drug Enforcement Task Force came to Eagle Watch Estates on Missoula’s Westside and entered the residence of an individual for whom Gibbs serves as a caretaker (not a medical marijuana caregiver). The police then, Gibbs says, interviewed other residents in the facility. Gibbs says he serves as a medical marijuana caregiver for as many as 12 Eagle Watch residents, most of whom are elderly and ill.

Police found no wrongdoing, but Gibbs says damage was done. He claims the resident for whom he was caretaking when police arrived severed ties with him, fearful that Gibbs’ association with medical marijuana could lead to other incidents. Gibbs also says he lost medical marijuana patients at Eagle Watch because they’re now “just a little too afraid.”

It’s stories like this that stoke my fears that legalizing marijuana for just a few is going to backfire. You can’t just legalize 5% of the market for marijuana and not expect the negative consequences of the illegal 95% of the market from affecting the legal 5%.

Exhibit A) Prices for medical marijuana that meet or exceed the prices for black market marijuana.

Exhibit B) Home invasion robberies of legal medical patients.

Exhibit C) SWAT team raids of nursing homes over a bag of weed.

My fear is that we legalized marijuana for a few, the “green rush” highlights and attracts the worst aspects of the black market, and we see public backlash against both the “exploitation of the sick and dying” and “fraud and abuse of the law by healthy people looking to get high”. The frame will become “See, we let you legalize it a little and look at what terrible things happened!”  Already these sentiments have led to stricter statutes as more states legalize medical use, such as New Jersey, which just passed the first medical marijuana law that doesn’t allow patients to grow their own herb.

There exists now the perfect opportunity for legalization for all adults, which is the only logical way medical users can ever be free of the effects of the black market. 81% of the public support medical marijuana and 44%-53% support marijuana legalization. Now it can be said that legalizing marijuana for 5% of its users hasn’t caused the sky to fall. Now we have an enormous economic and employment deficit that would be cut by re-legalization. Now we have the attention of the public on the horror of 15,000 murders in two years of Mexican drug war over brick weed.

But if this moment passes… if the economy improves… if the “green rush” leads to more negative headlines… if the Mexican massacres start happening on American soil… if Big Pharma succeeds in duplicating whole plant marijuana’s medical value… if more East Coast states pass “no home grow” medical bills… we may find this country settling on very strictly regulated medical marijuana where you’re in as much trouble for smoking it without a prescription as you are carrying a bottle of Vicodin without a prescription.

Medical marijuana is so 20th Century. It’s time to legalize in the dawn of the 21st.

Article Link: http://stash.norml.org/missoula-nursing-home-raided-by-swat-over-medical-marijuana-caregiver



9 comments:

  1. Please remove this article. I do not consent to its distribution or reference. - Taylor Gibbs

    ReplyDelete
  2. Nor anywhere did I claim ownership of it. The link to the owner is in the article which "Taylor Gibbs" is not in it. Also, there is no way I can verify WHO you are but a spammer by posting ananomously. If the author wanted it removed there are easy ways he would have contacted me long ago via email to do so but he did not.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sir please contact me personally at my email I will give you my personal contact number once I recieve an email from you. My email is TaylorBGibbs@Gmail.com I will gladly explain too you why I wish this removed and speak to you as to who I am.

    Again this article is ruining my life. I also ask that all comments regaurding removal be removed once we can talk via phone.

    thank you.
    Taylor Gibbs

    ReplyDelete
  4. Okay I saw Angie After I sent that so my apologies. Mam.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Also I don't know easy ways to get rid of this, it is on multiple web sites all over the internet. i have to contact each one individually to find a way to get each and every person to remove it. It was supposed to be only a local newspaper one time article sort of thing. Not something that haunts me years later when I am applying for normal work and the potential employers google my name and where I am from and see M***JUANA all over it. I was told to get the heck out of offices and not to waste peoples time. I have a wife and a 2 year old to feed. I don't need this following me any longer.

    ReplyDelete
  6. This is a story about you. It is still up on Russ's NORML Stash site and has not been removed. Surely my blog which doesn't reach that many people cannot be "ruining your life" by carrying NORML's news as well as other news. I put stories up to show police and government persecution. It is not intended to ruin your life. I ask you first, is this a true story? If so then I've done nothing wrong nor has NORML for putting it out. However, I may consider deleting it. Looking at my page stats it has only been viewed 10 times total. that would mean three times you viwed it is counted leaving comments. No matter, I will email you and see for myself. But what you accuse me of here is certianly untrue which puts us at odds. THIS BLOG SUPPORTS NORML!

    ReplyDelete
  7. If you do not answer my email today, this blog stays.

    ReplyDelete
  8. ATTENTION ALL WHO ARE CONTACTED BY "TAYLOR GIBBS". HE IS A HACKER. TRYING TO GET INTO ACTIVISTS PROFILES AND COMPUTERS! MY SOFTWARE JUST DETECTED HIM.

    ReplyDelete
  9. You know, I know nothing about hacking.
    I have sent all the appropriate information to the parties in request for removal of my name. If I truly new how to hack, don't you think I would just remove these blogs myself? Anyway I have spoken with an attorney and he has advised me to contact all parties involved in the unlawful slander of my name, I have done so with the Missoula Independant and NORML. I am going to kindly ask you one more time to remove this, or my attorney and I will be adding you to the list of law suits we will be filing in the upcoming months for Slander and deformation of name. This has caused irrefutable harm to myself and my family, I sure hope you will remove this blog and all contents so you are not involved in this lawsuit. If you have any questions so you are not worried about your computers you may contact me via telephone. You can get my phone number by contacting Matthew Frank of the Missoula Independant or by emailing me at TaylorBGibbs@Gmail.com to contact the independant in Missoula just google search them.
    Matthew Frank is aware of the pending lawsuit if the requested items are not removed within a attorney related time frame.
    thank you.

    ReplyDelete