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 Linda Thomas
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adamproperty.JPG
A superior court judge in Washington ordered that property seized during a raid of a medical marijuana user's Colfax home be returned to him after a criminal case against him was dismissed last week. This photo shows items that were returned to him this week, though he claims more valuable plants were destroyed. (Michael Adam Assenberg photo)

Medical marijuana advocate to sue Washington for $6 million

February 6, 2013 @ 5:18 pm (Updated: 9:28 am - 2/7/13 )

A medical marijuana advocate plans to sue the State of Washington for $6 million after property was seized during an illegal raid on his home.

Michael Adam Assenberg, who was arrested in May of 2011 for growing and distributing medicinal marijuana, is on a roll in his battle with authorities.

Last month the Whitman County prosecutor dismissed charges against him citing a new interpretation of medical marijuana laws in Washington state.

Earlier this week, a superior court judge ordered that all property seized during a raid of his Colfax home be returned to him.

For Assenberg, challenging the courts to maintain the rights of medical marijuana users and distributors is nothing compared to what he went through 18 years ago.

He was a security guard for a company in Riverside, California - guarding a place called the Minnesota Mining Company.

"Some people tried to steal some dynamite. I got in the way of their theft and was hit in the back with a baseball bat," he says.

He fell 15 feet off a railroad bridge into a dry riverbed full of boulders.

"I never lost consciousness. I waited for the suspects to leave as if they killed me. Then I tried to stand up and could not feel anything from the bellybutton on down. I ended up crawling up a 45 degree embankment on my hands and elbows, and the police estimated I crawled about 2.5 miles," Assenberg says.

The next thing he remembers is waking up in a hospital, hearing that he had nine broken bones in his spine and would probably never walk again.

Seven years after the attack, Assenberg was walking again but was also having dozens of seizures every day.

"One day after having seven seizures, one right after another, I decided 'Lord, I'm ready to come home' and took one of my serrated steak knives and felt my rib cage really carefully and placed the knife in my heart three times to end my life," he says. "I died once in the ambulance and once on the operating table."

Somehow, he made it through.

After that low point, having tried "everything known to man" to ease his pain, he started using medical marijuana regularly after 2004. Without it "every day is a living hell" he says.

In January of 2011, Assenberg started a medical marijuana business called Compassion for Patients. A few months after that police arrested him for selling narcotics.

"They assumed when they went to my house there would be thousands of dollars in cash and pounds of pot," he says. "They found $90 and seven ounces of marijuana."

Authorities also found 82 immature marijuana plants that were seized and taken out of their containers, destroying them.

"These were strains I worked on for years that I can't replace," he says.

Assenberg says he was growing the plants for distribution to people with medical marijuana cards as a licensed dispensary for the State of Washington, but officials said the state law said a medical marijuana provider could only have one patient at a time. Assenberg says he had one patient and his wife, who was also licensed, had one patient.

The case is finally settled, with the prosecutor asking that charges be dismissed, and Whitman County Superior Court Judge David Frazier siding with Assenberg.

It's not over for him. Assenberg says there's a "bigger issue here."

"I see my attorney Friday to start a $6 million civil suit against the Quad City Drug Task Force, Whitman County and the State of Washington for violating my rights under state law," he says.

"Law enforcement does not want marijuana to go to the people it needs to go to. They're taught that this is illegal no matter what, and they're going to enforce it no matter what we the people say."

By LINDA THOMAS

More from Linda Thomas

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Comments (32)


  • Add A Comment

  • John wrote...
    Why is it when they are a dealer.... it is always "medicinal"
    February 6, 2013 6:59 pm
    What is the difference between a druggie and an advocate?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Michael Adam Assenberg wrote...
    quick answer
    February 7, 2013 5:55 pm
    An Advocate is someone like me that does NOT take plea deals when fighting for the rights of patients and providers. The justice system is busting people for making sure patients have safe places to get their cannabis. I-692 states that patients and providers will NOT be subject to arrest. Our Tax money is being used to violate the will of the people and my intent is to slap the justice system hard for what they have done. The Government does this at the same time that they give pill makers $1.724.00 per month for Ninty pills at 10 MG each of man made marijuana. When I find patients that are low on funds I give them the Cannabis for FREE. Dealers don't do that.
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  • ToldYa wrote...
    hope he wins
    February 6, 2013 8:19 pm
    !!
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Nibs wrote...
    Me too.
    February 7, 2013 1:51 am
    !!
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • fishnpol wrote...
    @John
    February 7, 2013 6:12 am
    Apparently you can't comprehend what you read. Besides if you weren't so ignorant you wouldn't call someone that smokes a little pot a druggie. Not any different than calling someone who needs a cup of coffee in the morning to get going or someone who has a drink to unwind after work a druggie. It's ignorant and or stupid people that screws this world up.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • shark75 wrote...
    Um, you were growing and selling marijuana illegally
    February 7, 2013 6:44 am
    Were you too stoned at the time to realize this was illegal? NEXT!
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Duncan20903 wrote...
    The LAW is the LAW (blah, blah, blah)
    February 7, 2013 3:59 pm
    Funny how shark75 doesn't have a problem with sworn Law Enforcement Officers when they break the law. So where the heck is “the LAW is the LAW (blah, blah, blah)” crowd when authorities decide to break the law and violate their Oath? Up in the peanut gallery cheering that lawbreaking like the hypocritical partisan hacks that they are is where.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Michael Adam Assenberg wrote...
    If it were a crime
    February 7, 2013 5:57 pm
    Are you drinking too much? Did you not read that I not only won my case but I got the judge to order the sheriff to give it back.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Newton wrote...
    Marijuana should never have been taken.
    February 7, 2013 7:30 am
    Illeagl says who. All those that sell alcohol. All those that sell fuel. Hemp/marijuana makes a fantastic fuel. Big Pharma because its a great medicine for cancer. When is the sleep public going to understand the good out weighs the bad by millions. I have very no respect for the ones who call this illeagl.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • shark75 wrote...
    NEXT!!!
    February 7, 2013 7:49 am
    Come on Newton, the alcohol vs. marijuana argument is tired. Yeah yeah it's the miracle drug according to "Marijuana for Dummies, with forward by Cheech and Chong". It cures cancer, blah blah blah. Guess what...99% of people that smoke it STONERS. This guy was a drug dealer who was in violation of federal law...it's good that he got raided.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • CldWtrSrf wrote...
    Good to know shark75 is a
    February 7, 2013 11:04 am
    Totalitarian FASCIST with NO respect for the Constitution. Ever heard of the 10th Amendment? Show me again where the Constitution gives the Federal Government the right to make a flower illegal? Oh, you can't.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Sea View wrote...
    First
    February 7, 2013 3:06 pm
    The drug raid was illegal. Says so in the first paragraph. Okay, let's make the argument that the guy is a 'stoner'. So what? Does that effect YOUR life? I'm sure you have a vice, and don't say you don't. Every extra expense in life that does not feed,clothe, educate or house you is a vice. Don't cry to me about the dangers of pot. People who smoke it know that they've been fed a bunch of lies by lying liars for over 40 years. Second, the plants were immature. Knowing as much as you do about cannabis, I'm guessing you know that many of those plants would have been males, which are completely worthless and disposed of. So in reality, he did not have as much pot as it seemed.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Michael Adam Assenberg wrote...
    Shows how much you know about Federal Law
    February 7, 2013 6:04 pm
    If you were to look up Federal code 21 USC Sec. 812 01/22/02 from TITLE 21 - FOOD AND DRUGS CHAPTER 13 - DRUG ABUSE PREVENTION AND CONTROL SUBCHAPTER I - CONTROL AND ENFORCEMENT Part B" You would note that under that Federal code it states " (B) The drug or other substance has no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States." We have 18 States and much more proof that can show the Justice Dept., the DEA & FDA have superseded their authority since 2002.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • shark75 wrote...
    One other thing I forgot to add (too much pot smoking in my younger days I guess)
    February 7, 2013 7:57 am
    This guy had 82 plants and you expect me to believe that between him and his wife there were two "patients"? Come on dude. Maybe two patients with bogus "prescriptions". I'd be willing to bet anything there was a line of illegal "pateints" out the door at this guy's place. "These were strains I worked on for years that I can't replace," he says. For two "patients"? What a hero! Ha ha puh-leez!! He is a drug dealer.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • RobertK wrote...
    You don't know ,Jack!
    February 7, 2013 8:36 am
    I met this guy at a hearing and listened to his story several times. His seizures were heartbreaking to witness. I can tell by your lack of compassion and closed mind you'd never be able to walk in his shoes. He can't work, his body is twisted and torn, he even lost all of his upper front teeth in the attack. I hope he continues to win in court. No one, especially the very ill, should ever be subjected to the kind of abuse the law put upon this broken man. You sir, are an embarrassment to the human condition.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • shark75 wrote...
    "You sir, are an embarrassment to the human condition."
    February 7, 2013 9:05 am
    It's 10 O'clock in the morning - are you stoned already? When you say you met this guy in a "hearing", what does that mean? Was it a stoner seminar? You attend this guy's legal hearings? Are you some kind of stoner groupie? Do you have a steady job? No further questions your honor...
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • sohojo wrote...
    Talk about
    February 7, 2013 9:18 am
    Repetitive tired, bogus arguments. lol.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Nervoso wrote...
    I hope he sues the ever living piss out of them
    February 7, 2013 9:37 am
    and wins it all.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Duncan20903 wrote...
    Potential settlement
    February 7, 2013 4:13 pm
    If he was in California or Colorado the LEOs lawyer would already have made a settlement offer to the plaintiff. The problem in Washington is that in a recent ruling an authorized grower made a claim under his homeowners' hazard insurance the insurance company refused to pay the claim. The judge was of the Federal law brown nose club and ruled that the property had no legal value because it's "illegal" under Federal law. It was a very imaginative ruling but to the best of my knowledge has yet to be undone. There are lots of people like shark75 who think they can pick and choose which laws they like, and some of them are judges and cops. Regardless, $6 million isn't even going to happen in fantasy land.
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