Police deliver medicinal marijuana for vaporizer or other use
-In Billings, Montana, a medical marijuana patient is waiting for a shipment from one of the legal dispensaries in the state. The shipment is a few days behind schedule, but they have gotten word that it should be delivered this afternoon. He hears the doorbell and is both hopeful and anxious, pain shoots though his body as he makes his way to see who is at the door. The door is opened to a Billings Police Officer, “hello officer, how can I help you?”
“I have a delivery for you.” and hands over a box containing the marijuana.
“Thank you so much officer, I hope you have a great day.”
The flabbergasted police officer walks away shaking his head thinking not as good as the one you are about to have.
Though the above is a dramatization, it is the reality in one Montana town where policemen had become a delivery company of medicinal marijuana for Cannabis producers, because regular mail companies such as UPS or FedEx refuse to take care of those items because it could make them liable to criminal prosecution.
Yes, narcotics detectives are wasting their time and resources having to investigate legitimate businesses and sometimes actually delivering the weed. Which can take hours away from investigating actual criminals.
Mail companies are refusing to deliver packages that are found to contain marijuana because of federal laws stating that position of marijuana is a crime, even though medical marijuana was made legal by voters in Montana back in 2004.
The police have to call the medical providers and make sure that they are following state regulations. Once it has been decided that the weed is from a legal source and going to registered patients or caregivers the recipients are notified. If they don’t come to pick up the packages, that is when police have to step in as a delivery service.
The police department cannot destroy the marijuana because it creates a legal liability since it has a rightful owner. This is often times frustrating for everyone involved. But until federal laws are changed or another solution can be found, the police are making the deliveries.
This is sometimes an issue itself because there has been at least one case when an officer has been caught on tape by feds returning weed to a home under their surveillance.