Fort Collins couple to sue city over $200,000 worth of dead marijuana plants

By Trevor Hughes • TrevorHughes@coloradoan.com • August 20, 2008



A Fort Collins couple is planning to sue the city and Larimer County for more than $200,000 after police officers destroyed their 39 marijuana plants two years ago.


Last year in court, James and Lisa Masters successfully showed that city police illegally seized their plants following a raid at their home on Aug. 2, 2006. Judge James Hiatt in December ordered the city to return the seized pot plants, which by then were dead.

The Masters say they use the marijuana for medicinal reasons, growing some for their personal use, and dispensing the rest to other people registered under the state's medical marijuana law.

And they say that state law, enshrined in the state Constitution as Amendment 20, required the government to maintain their plants.

"The Masters suffer from debilitating medical conditions that were made worse by the stress of this lengthy case," their lawyer, Rob Corry Jr., wrote in a letter to the city and county declaring plans to sue. "Their valuable medical marijuana was taken away and killed in violation of Colorado law."

City and county officials say federal law requires them to destroy the plants, or at the very least not care for them.

The case could end up having statewide implications, by forcing a judge to decide whether the state or federal law takes precedence.

For James Masters, however, it has much more important considerations. Lisa has been hospitalized for five weeks with a life-threatening blood disorder that may be related to the fibromyalga for which she uses marijuana. That medical care has cost the family more than $600,000, James Masters said.

"It's been a real struggle, but we're not giving up on it," he said this week. "I've committed my life to this."

The couple used the federal government's estimates of what marijuana is worth to settle on the approximately $202,000 they are seeking, or $5,200 per plant.


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