Aurora, CO: Police Return Marijuana Plants to Veteran

VIDEO: Police Return Marijuana Plants to Veteran

AURORA -- An historic day in Colorado. The Aurora Police Department had to return the largest number of marijuana plants ever to a marijuana grower.

Gulf War veteran Kevin Dickes--once facing jail time for growing medical marijuana--went back to the police to get it back Tuesday.

"By all rights, they should be fully grown, 5-foot tall, 71 cannabis indicus plants. But I'm expecting that not to be the case," says Dickes' lawyer, Robert Corry, Jr.

And he was right. The plants all fit into a brown paper grocery sack. "Seventy-one plants, you guys, are in this bag. Seventy-one," said a disappointed Dickes.

His medicine to ease the pain from chronic vascular disease is ruined. "We're missing the buds that we grow on a marijuana plant. That's the medicinal quality of the plant. This is stuff that would end up in the trash can," says cannabis expert, Dana May.

And that destruction likely means the police will have to pay. Another cannabis expert, Daniel Pope says, "The law is very clear, the plants should not be neglected, harmed, injured or destroyed."

State law also allows Dickes to be compensated for his loss--a value of $5,200 per plant. "There's 71 plants here. So do the math," says Corry Jr.

Police Chief Dan Oates said this about the law. "I think it is the height of absurdity and death of common sense for me to go to my city council and ask for money from the taxpayers of Aurora to run a grow operation in my property locker."

Besides Oates says Dickes brought this on himself by not telling officers the day he was arrested he was a registered medical marijuana user.

Police only stopped their search when Dickes' girlfriend told them a half hour later.

Chief Oates says had they known immediately Dickes was registered to have marijuana, they would have simply taken pictures of the plants, taken a small sample and let the district attorney decide how to proceed.

Corry Jr. though says Dickes wasn't thinking clearly at the time because police busted down Dickes' door with full black masks on, their guns drawn and pointed to his head. He was then hauled away to jail just 10 minutes later.

Corry Jr. plans to file his motion for compensation next week.

NEWS PHOTOS FROM RETURN OF PROPERTY


Aurora Police Return Marijuana To Former Marine

AURORA, Colo. (CBS4) ― Police in Aurora have given back dozens of marijuana plants they seized. The owner claimed the pot was being used for medicinal purposes and he had a state issued card to back it up.

Police were very careful before returning the marijuana. The issue they said was a discrepancy between state and federal law regarding possession of marijuana for medical purposes.

After being arrested and his 71 marijuana plants seized, charges against Kevin Dickes were dropped. He then went to Aurora police headquarters to get the marijuana back.

"This is an historic day," Dickes attorney Robert Corry said. "This is the largest return of medical marijuana that I am aware of in Colorado history."

Dickes won this legal battle because he was registered in the state's medical marijuana program, something he did not immediately tell police when he was arrested.

"He didn't tell us the entire 10 minutes after he was arrested about the medical marijuana certificate," Aurora Police Chief Dan Oates said.

Dickes was given his marijuana back, but only a small bag was left. Corry threatened to ask for $5,000 for each of the 71 plants.

"I think it's the height of absurdity and the death of common sense for me to go to my city council to ask for money to run a grow operation in my property locker," Oates said.

Dickes said he needed that medical marijuana to ease the pain from a war injury in the Gulf War in the early 90s. He claimed a prisoner of war he was escorting exploded a grenade. He wasn't sure if it happened in Kuwait or Bahrain. When CBS4 asked for further details they were unclear. He said he would rather have CBS4 talk to his attorney.

Aurora police said they turned over the marijuana only after receiving a court order.

Contact reporter Rick Sallinger at rsallinger@cbs.com

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