Posted on 02/28/2013 10:18:49 AM PST by Lexington Green
One of the suspects in this case is dying.
She is in her 60s, and confined to a wheelchair.
One of the other suspects is her caretaker.
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He is also in his 60s, and a disabled Vietnam veteran.
This husband-and-wife crime wave were at their home in Parrish, just across the Sunshine Skyway bridge in Manatee County, when deputies arrived Monday afternoon.
It seems a real estate agent had been checking out a house next door when she spotted marijuana plants growing in the back yard of Bob and Cathy Jordan.
Several deputies, detectives and undercover narcotics cops in ski masks later, two mature plants and various seedlings were confiscated, and the case was turned over to the State Attorney's Office to determine if charges are to be brought against Ma and Pa Jordan.
This would almost be comical if Bob was not worried it might lead to his wife's death.
Cathy Jordan has amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig's disease) and has depended on marijuana to combat the progressive nature and many of the symptoms of her disease.
"I know it's against the law, and I know the cops have a job to do. But I have a responsibility, too, and my responsibility is taking care of my wife,'' said Bob Jordan, a retired steel worker. "They don't have to tell me this is serious. To us, this is life-and-death serious.
"I'm not backing down. If I have to go to jail, I'll go to jail. Just because something is illegal, doesn't make it morally wrong. My wife is dying! She's dying, man.''
Unbeknownst to the Manatee County Sheriff's Office, the people they were investigating have been leaders in a push to legalize cannabis for medicinal purposes in Florida.
On Wednesday afternoon, two days after the incident, Sen. Jeff Clemens, D-Lake Worth, filed the previously planned Cathy Jordan Medical Cannabis Act (SB 1250) in the Senate.
Clemens has filed similar bills the previous two years in the House and has essentially been ignored by his fellow legislators.
Even though 18 states have passed medical marijuana laws, and recent polls indicate Florida residents are overwhelmingly in favor of it, Clemens has little faith that his legislation will pass this year. His hope is that it will at least be discussed in a workshop and pick up momentum for sometime down the road.
"What is the public purpose of this policy? Is this the best way to use law enforcement resources?'' Clemens asked. "We are spending billions of dollars investigating, arresting, prosecuting and then housing people for small-time drug offenses. It's mind-boggling.
"The hope is that by regulating medicinal cannabis we can at least eliminate the senseless cases like this one in Manatee County.''
In the meantime, the Jordans are talking to an attorney and hoping the State Attorney's Office decides this is not a case worth pursuing.
They're also worrying about Cathy's health because they say cannabis is the only drug that has alleviated her depression and muscle issues while also helping with her appetite.
"This is her medicine. It's that simple,'' said Bob Jordan. "The problem is people are prejudiced against cannabis because of the tie-dye, hippie, bulls--- image.
"They don't have a cure for this. And none of their legal drugs ever did a thing for her.''
And neither of those document delegates the authority to govern what people ingest to stay alive to the federal government.
In fact the powers not expressly delegated are retained by the people or the States.
I am not familiar with the specific State constitutions, but I doubt that authority was delegated in the state constitution to the state.
Kinds funny how drugs are illegal, huh? You can’t do drugs and you can’t drive drunk and you can’t throw a kitten into dog fighting ring just to watch it get killed. There’s just no freedom anymore.
What a feeble dodge.
The Libertarian crowd has gotten a lot weaker wince OWK left.
That's an even feebler dodge by you. Your talk of others' "weakness" is a textbook case of projection.
Why are the "drugs" you refer to as harmless called mind altering? If they indeed had no effect on the user, why would the user use them? Do the users like the taste? Enjoy the aroma, snuffing crap in their nose, the feeling of a needle piercing their hide?
Personally, I wish all drugs were unrestricted, that there were no controls on any pharmaceutical manufacturers. I believe within a very short period of time the gene pool would be cleansed and the average IQ would rise appreciably.
This is 2013, not 1860. Shall we return to the time when there were no automobiles, trucks, highways, air conditioning, planes, central heat, refrigeration, MRIs, CT scans, arthroscopic surgery or vaccines?
You have provided no evidence.
And yet you argue vehemently against any loosening of restrictions. You should seek professional help for these masochistic tendencies.
Shall we re-institute slavery also?
What's your point - are you saying ending Prohibition was as wrong as slavery?
This is 2013, not 1860. Shall we return to the time when there were no automobiles, trucks, highways, air conditioning, planes, central heat, refrigeration, MRIs, CT scans, arthroscopic surgery or vaccines?
Not everything in the past was worse than today - manners and morals were (with some exceptions) superior. Or so I keep hearing from fellow FReepers - do you disagree?
And the drug ban that began Prohibition is even older than its end ... so by your past-is-worse logic we should oppose drug bans.
And neither have you. And I wasn’t on trial. Good day to you, progressive. I have no further use for you.
The feeling is mutual, dimwit.
Only in the minds of doper LIEberTARDians. You're mostly all one trick ponies and I enjoy exposing the fact.
Superior? In what way? What exceptions?
http://www.eldia.com.ar/edis/20130202/Colombia-propone-legalizar-algunas-drogas-elmundo4.htm
This one says says 81%. I heard the 95% over the radio. Still this number reflects very high opposition because the FARC/Soros agenda that has fooled Americans is solidly rejected in Colombia.
“Pero apenas se conocieron los detalles del Estatuto Nacional de Drogas en Colombia estalló la polémica ya que según una encuesta, el 81% de los colombianos se opone al proyecto presentado por el Gobierno de ese país y la oposición salió a advertir que se opondrá cuando la...”
LOL, you have no power over me. I’d rather be called a dimwit than be a progressive. I mean jeez, words vs actions. You lose. Now run along little girl, I hear Newt Gingrich calling.
You're post proves otherwise, LIEberTARDian dimwit. LOLAY!
No. My dog still fights every chance she gets.
Look. You indicated that if something is against the law, we must accept that and abide by it. Is that your position or is it not?
*yawn* I would think someone holding themselves up like you are would have a little bit more than name calling. I guess not. Yikes.
I wish you would.
name calling
You mean like "progressive, little girl"? If you don't want to get burned, don't put your hand in the fire.
See that's what thinking does. If you cant even understand that, then you're a mental midget compared to my thinking.
And BTW, the only burning you got is that scorching STD you're trying to hide from your wife. So that's check and mate. LMAO, see ya!
You have no idea what my belief system is. Yet you resort to the ad hominem "progressive", "mental midget ".
that scorching STD
More proof of your lack of intelligence. I don't feel your pain. LOLAY!
I believe criminalization, and by extension legalization, is covered under this part:
"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."
Anything you can't find anywhere else is in there.
I get where you are coming from, but I hope you don’t expect to convince anyone around here. There are more blockheads, and federal bootlickers around here than you could shake a stick at. Go ahead and smoke all want, but personally I would prefer to destroy my liver before destroying my brain. When you get tired of chasing Jones around just don’t ask us taxpayers to pick up your rehab tab! Enjoy.
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