Gone to pot

Hmmm ... Interesting ...

Here's the scenario: Cops seize 39 live marijuana plants from a Fort Collins, Colorado, couple who grew the pot for medical marijuana users. Cops apparently stash the plants as evidence, but don't do anything to care for them. Cops get a shock when charges are dropped against the couple because (Surprise!) medical marijuana is legal in Colorado and the couple had crossed its legal "T"s and dotted its "I"s. Now the cops have to return the seized property -- the plants.

But they're dead.

Now, the couple is suing the police for the value of the lost crop, estimated at more than $100,000.

If I had to guess, I'd say it never crossed the cops' minds that this case could go against them, and that they might eventually have to return the seized plants in anything resembling their original condition. It seems to me that "you break it, you bought it" is the operative concept here. Smugly assuming that you have an open-and-shut case shouldn't be a shield against the obligation to care for private property of which you've conditionally taken possession.

Of course, this is America -- the land of prohibition, where drugs are bad, mm'kay. Under the circumstances, I'm very curious to see how the case plays out.