Due to a successful regulatory complaint, the Munich Police had to pay back 6.60 euros ($7.50) to a Bavarian cannabis patient for 0.3 grams of confiscated medical marijuana. The police destroyed the legal medicine of the 31-year-old as part of a personal check.
“Thus, it should now be clear to the Bavarian police that cannabis patients are not criminals,” said Micha Greif, spokesman for the Munich local chapter of the German Hemp Association (DHV).
In Germany, cannabis patients are generally allowed to consume their medicine in public as long as they comply with the nonsmoking protection law and, in accordance with the Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices, do not consume their herbs “ostentatiously.”
Police Officer Calls Patient a Junkie
On May 11, 2017, a civilian patrol member of the Munich police surrounded Christoph while he consumed his herbal medicine on the banks of the Isar River.
“The police instructor ignored my entrained narcotic prescription, insulted me as a ‘junkie’ and body searched me and all my bystanders,” the cannabis patient said.
Despite no illegal substances being found during the search, police destroyed the 0.3 grams of cannabis immediately, which prompted the reimbursement. Before the destruction of his medicine, police officers did not allow Christoph to show documents identifying him as a legal medical marijuana patient.
As a result, the robbery victim wrote an official complaint, which was handed over to the Department of Internal Investigations within the State Office of Criminal Investigation in Bavaria because of suspicion of insult and damage to third-party property by police officers.
It has now been established that the search of the patient and his escorts was lawful because cannabis consumption is quite common in the area of the Isar riverbanks. In such designated places, so-called “dangerous areas,” police officers in Germany may order personal checks including body searches without initial suspicion.
In spite of the fundamental legality of the control, the internal police investigators determined a personal insult took place. Although the responsible public prosecutor’s office in Munich was of the same opinion, the case was closed without a sentence for the officers involved. The prosecutor’s office believes that such an incident will not be repeated, even without a punishment.
Christoph announced he would donate the money symbolically to the DHV after the repayment of 6.60 euros.
“After the incident, I was scared for weeks and I decided quite late to file the complaint. I did not want to accept that patients receive a collateral damage by a constitutionally questionable hunt for cannabis users. According to the will of some officials, either patients have to hide in their houses or to undergo regular body searches. It is just unheard that even medicine is being destroyed, especially because the supply of pharmacies that has not been granted since months.”
credit:marijuana.com