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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsKansas couple: Indoor gardening prompted pot raid
LEAWOOD, Kan. (AP) Two former CIA employees whose Kansas home was fruitlessly searched for marijuana during a two-state drug sweep claim they were illegally targeted, possibly because they had bought indoor growing supplies to raise vegetables.
Adlynn and Robert Harte sued this week to get more information about why sheriff's deputies searched their home in the upscale Kansas City suburb of Leawood last April 20 as part of Operation Constant Gardener a sweep conducted by agencies in Kansas and Missouri that netted marijuana plants, processed marijuana, guns, growing paraphernalia and cash from several other locations.
April 20 long has been used by marijuana enthusiasts to celebrate the illegal drug and more recently by law enforcement for raids and crackdowns. But the Hartes' attorney, Cheryl Pilate, said she suspects the couple's 1,825-square-foot split level was targeted because they had bought hydroponic equipment to grow a small number of tomatoes and squash plants in their basement.
"With little or no other evidence of any illegal activity, law enforcement officers make the assumption that shoppers at the store are potential marijuana growers, even though the stores are most commonly frequented by backyard gardeners who grow organically or start seedlings indoors," the couple's lawsuit says.
The couple filed the suit this week under the Kansas Open Records Act after Johnson County and Leawood denied their initial records requests, with Leawood saying it had no relevant records. The Hartes say the public has an interest in knowing whether the sheriff's department's participation in the raids was "based on a well-founded belief of marijuana use and cultivation at the targeted addresses, or whether the raids primarily served a publicity purpose."
http://news.yahoo.com/kansas-couple-indoor-gardening-prompted-pot-raid-182449463.html
Kalidurga
(14,177 posts)I would move from Kansas if I lived there.
CaliforniaPeggy
(149,754 posts)What was done to them was reprehensible.
K&R
Logical
(22,457 posts)MineralMan
(146,341 posts)No real cause for a search warrant. Simply buying some hydroponics gear and grow lights is not due cause for a search warrant. The cops overstepped.
RainDog
(28,784 posts)I hope this couple wins major damages for this shit.
enough already.
The "war on drugs" has done more to erode people's constitutional rights than it has done any good.