Med marijuana plants confiscated in Chinook

A medical marijuana patient is short 23 plants after the Tri-Agency Safe Trails Drug Task Force confiscated the surplus Wednesday evening. Agents visited the home on the 200 block of Illinois Avenue in Chinook at approximately 8 p.m. that day to investigate a report of marijuana plants being grown in the basement, said Pete Federspiel, the director of the task force. Charges in the Chinook seizure are pending, Federspiel said, declining to release the man's name until they are filed. He expects them to be filed in Blaine County District Court some time this week. The man was cooperative and said he was both a medical marijuana patient and caregiver, but the state only verified his status as a patient, Federspiel said. The task force also confiscated two ounces of usable marijuana, brownies, cookies and cannabis butter, he said. Six plants and one ounce of usable marijuana, as allowed by the state's Medical Marijuana Act, were left with the man. "Looking at the actual plants, I would venture to say that they were diver t ing i t to non-pat ient s, " Federspiel said, adding that similar cases are increasing in number, with the task force working on roughly 12 for both patients and caregivers. "It's one of many that's cropping up," he said about the case. "Just having a list of caregivers and being able to go in and inspect them any time," would be ideal for Law enforcement of medical marijuana statutes, he said. More stringent penalties for breaking the law would also be helpful, he said. If found guilty of charges, the Chinook man will not be able to register as a caregiver with the state, but he will retain his medical marijuana card and be allowed to continue to grow six plants for his personal use. Federspiel suggested that patients involved in similar cases should lose their medical marijuana cards and prison time should be given if they are distributing the marijuana. On average, marijuana sells for $350 an ounce on the black market compared to the average $250 an ounce for medical marijuana, he said. "A lot of patients, I guess because it's available for them, are taking the $250-an-ounce and selling it for $350 to support their smoking marijuana," he said. "I think it's made for more drug dealers," he said about the situation.