Washington Hospital Calls Police on Patient for Possessing Pot Legally

[Newsjock]

Source: The Stranger

Twenty-seven-year-old Matthew Zimmerman wasn't thinking about the little bit of pot in his pocket when he went in for a routine exam at a Gig Harbor hospital yesterday, because Washington State voters legalized marijuana possession last fall. Plus, he says, "I forgot it was there." But shortly after a nurse smelled it and confronted Zimmerman, an officer arrived at the scene to question him.

The incident raises alarms about someone reporting to police on what is now a perfectly legal activity, but it also raises questions about whether the Catholic-affiliated hospital may have breached medical ethics and privacy laws.

... The Gig Harbor Police Department confirms that the hospital called yesterday about a man who allegedly was too high on marijuana to drive and dispatched an officer to the scene. "That was the hospital’s concern—that he couldn’t drive," explains Gig Harbor Police Department spokeswoman Debbie Eason. But the responding officer, Officer Gary Dahm, didn't file a police report because, as Eason explains, "When the officer found him, he determined that Zimmerman wasn't impaired. He could drive."

Alison Holcomb, an attorney for the ACLU of Washington and the author of last year's marijuana-legalizing Initiative 502, says Zimmerman's privacy was breached.

Read more: http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/03/19/hospital-calls-police-on-patient-for-possessing-pot-legally

[uppityperson]

1. DUI is DUI but if they called without actually thinking he was DUI, then it was a false, frivilous

call.

I do not know about this incident, but it will take a bit for things to shake down here in WA.

[pipoman]

3. Are people selling pot on craigs list

as they are in CO?

[uppityperson]

6. Quick look and yes, they are. Too funny.

http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/for/3692224695.html

http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/hab/3692196699.html
Minimum $40 "donation"

[pipoman]

2. Sounds like there is a difference between

Zimmerman's story and what the police found, and what the hospital employee reported to police. Maybe the hospital employee should be cited for making a false report..

[ShadowLiberal]

4. Unfortunately it doesn't matter that the voters legalized it in the state

Federal law trumps State law, so it's not actually 'false arrest' or 'false police report' to call the cops on someone having pot in Washington. The Federal government is just very all over the place/inconsistent in enforcing such drug laws because of growing political pressure to legalize it.

Violations of Medical Ethics and Privacy Laws however by calling the cops however, maybe.

[Eleanors38]

5. IIRC, local LEOs are charged with enforcing state and local laws.

and not federal law. If the feds want to screw with a citizen of WA, they would have to do it on their own or when someone contacts them.

I favor the MPP strategy of state-by-state; it weakens the bureaucratic resolve of other states to keep the WOD going. Sort of like state lottos: who wants revenues going over the state line?

[rustydog]

7. In washngton you can posess pot

You cannot sell it you cannot smoke it in public. if you are high, as hospital staff believed, you can be charged with DUI (driving under the influence) if you try to drive.
This person did not try to drive.
By the way, you can only possess a small amount and the pipe for smoking pot is still paraphernalia and that is still illegal.