|
AN INCIDENT IN KANSAS - An interview with ELVY MUSIKKA and RICHAR
NOTICE: TO ALL CONCERNED Certain text files and messages contained on this site deal with activities and devices which would be in violation of various Federal, State, and local laws if actually carried out or constructed. The webmasters of this site do not advocate the breaking of any law. Our text files and message bases are for informational purposes only. We recommend that you contact your local law enforcement officials before undertaking any project based upon any information obtained from this or any other web site. We do not guarantee that any of the information contained on this system is correct, workable, or factual. We are not responsible for, nor do we assume any liability for, damages resulting from the use of any information on this site.
************************************************************************
Here's a "medical marijuana" morality tale I'd like to see in
cyberspace, so post it wherever you like. (I don't have a net connection
or I'd do it myself.) EVERYONE should know about the heros of the Kansas
highway patrol. I did this interview about a year and a half ago and
both Elvy and Richard have read and OK'd the article for publication.
rg.
************************************************************************
It helps to know that RICHARD DAVIS's Hemp Museum is covered with bumper
stickers such as "Honk If You Love Hemp," "Hemp-- Earth's Number One
Source of Fiber, Food, Fuel and Medicine" and a FULL GROWN HEMP PLANT
(the stalk and stems are LEGAL) on top of the truck. Also ELVY MUSIKKA
is one of nine legal marijuana users in the United States.
Non-profit circulation of this article unedited is free. Publication for
profit must conform to copyright law, which means---if you make a few
bucks using my work, I want my share.
AN INCIDENT IN KANSAS
An interview with ELVY MUSIKKA and RICHARD DAVIS by R Givens c 1995
On 21 June 1994 around 7:30pm, RICHARD DAVIS and ELVY MUSIKKA, a legal
marijuana user, were heading west in the Hemp Museum on I-70 near
Salina, Kansas when a Kansas Highway Patrol (KHP) car began following
them.
RICHARD DAVIS: He stayed on my tail or came up beside the truck looking
at the stickers for 15 or 20 minutes. When he stopped me, he said I
wasn't driving so good, but he followed me for a long time and a lot of
traffic went by, so he wasn't too concerned until he decided to stop me.
He came over all steamed up, accusing me, "Look at you. You're all
fucked up. Your eyes are red......" He had an attitude right from the
start. He had me stand behind the truck and went to talk to Elvy.
ELVY MUSIKKA: Officer Patrick introduced himself and said, "I stopped
you because your boyfriend has to be stoned. He's driving 60mph." It was
a 65mph zone and Richard was driving slower because the wind was blowing
the truck around. A minute later Officer Patrick was telling me that
Richard was being arrested because "He told me that he smoked
marijuana." (laughs) As though I was fool enough to believe Richard
would ever say something so stupid to a highway patrolman. (laughs) I
knew right then we were dealing with liars.
As soon as we stopped, I pulled out the Parade Magazine (12 June 1994)
with my picture on the cover, so Officer Patrick and the rest of them
knew from the very beginning that I receive legal marijuana from the
government. He asked what the maximum I can carry is and I told him I
can have a three-month supply, which is a lot, because I'm expected to
smoke 300 joints a month. Then Officer Patrick wanted to check my pouch,
so I showed him my prescription bottle. He smelled the weed and said it
smelled very good. He thought it was too good to be government pot. I
guess he had read enough to know that the government only gives out
trash. He wondered about them being hand-rolled, but the government
marijuana is freeze dried and I have to wet it and re-roll it because
it's too harsh.
Officer Patrick never questioned that I was a legal smoker, but he was
determined to arrest Richard no matter what. He was upset because
Richard chose to exercise his 1st Amendment Rights with his bumper
stickers and the hemp plant on top of the truck. Cops like Officer
Patrick think they are above the law. This was proven by the way they
harassed us for the next five hours.
RICHARD DAVIS: Within 20 minutes four squad cars were there. Patrick
started out threatening me with jail and they kept asking for consent to
search the back of the truck. Every once in a while they would come over
in a group and seriously discuss getting permission to search. They
asked several times, but I refused. They said they were going to take me
to jail anyway. Officer Patrick was convinced that he was going to get
in the back and nail me for 200 pounds of weed he seemed to think I had
in there. (laughs) They kept saying, "Let us take a look. If it's only a
little bit for personal use, we don't care." They hinted that they would
just take the weed and let us go, but they weren't giving any
guarantees. They finally decided to get a drug dog. If the dog got a
positive response for marijuana, that would be their probable cause.
ELVY MUSIKKA: (laughs hard) There I was dressed in HEMP, we are driving
a HEMP museum, they already know I'm a LEGAL MARIJUANA USER (laughs),
and they needed a drug dog to determine there was some HEMP there.
(laughs) As soon as the dog arrived, it was time for my medicine, so I
lit up and smoked a whole joint. By then we had been detained four
hours.
RICHARD DAVIS: We told them over and over that we would not approve a
search. They knew full well that they were doing an ILLEGAL SEARCH. Elvy
even asked if they had a warrant signed by a judge. Their answer was
"No, but we can get one." They never did though.
We were a couple of hours into this before Officer Patrick snapped and
read me my rights. He said I had the right to remain silent, so I shut
up. Until then I was very cooperative and tried to educate them about
hemp. All they did was threaten me with jail and constantly ask to
search the truck.
After they got the dog they decide they could search the back of the
truck. They thought I had the keys even though they patted me down right
after they stopped us. One of the troopers took a one bladed swiss army
type knife the Hemp Rope People gave me. I guess he liked the knife
until he found out I wasn't going to jail. We had to wait an extra hour
while the officer brought the knife back. Anyway, the keys were in the
ignition, so they got in without breaking the lock.
Once they got in back, they went through Elvy's stuff and found a half
pound of good bud and some very good leaf a dealer GAVE her because the
government shorted Elvy a month's supply on her prescription. When they
found that they said, "we've got him on sales!"
ELVY MUSIKKA: They were in MY suitcase threatening Richard with
"sales." My suitcase was totally locked. They destroyed the zipper and
went through ALL of my personal belongings. It was a violation of my
privacy in every way. They were opening sealed containers and poking
through EVERYTHING. They had the audacity to open my government
marijuana can, which was sealed exactly the way I get it. I purposely
keep it sealed so if anybody gets in there it has to be an ILLEGAL
SEARCH.
I had a few government joints on top and some good bud and some very
good leaf for baking. I like cookies because of the hassle of smoking on
the road. Anyway, according to the court order of Judge Markey Bolin, I
am entitled to do WHATEVER it takes LEGAL or ILLEGAL to preserve my
sight. That's in the Judge's decision.
They took the good marijuana and left me a few days supply of government
trash. they even stole my government prescription marijuana container.
Officer Patrick and the rest of them may be interested to know that they
definitely put my vision at risk by stealing my medicine. I have a
tolerance to the standard glaucoma medicines and if my doctor hadn't
arranged an emergency shipment, I would have been in real trouble. The
stuff the troopers left only lasted a few days.
RICHARD DAVIS: Now, let's get this straight. Elvy had that bud because
she was shorted a month's supply by the government. THEY admitted as
much when they Federal Expressed 300 joints to a Motel 6. Those highway
patrolmen weren't satisfied with harassing us for five hours in the
middle of the night; they had to take a glaucoma patient's medicine
before they were happy.
I feel sorry for people like Officer Patrick because this War on Drugs
completely compromises their morality. It absolutely destroys their
integrity going around lying and abusing citizens rights. I would be
amazed if all the pot they took ended up in the DA's office. The
property receipt they gave us was so illegible that it says absolutely
nothing about what they took. You can't read a word. Maybe that's their
idea of honesty.
They know damn well that marijuana isn't dangerous. At no time did
these cops act as though they thought we were a threat. They never
handcuffed me and they left me alone several times while they badgered
Elvy. They thanked us over and over for being so courteous. After being
detained for five hours and being robbed by a gang of thieves with
badges, all they did was give me a warning citation for a cracked
windshield that doesn't require any action. They took over a half pound
of marijuana, but they never arrested ANYBODY for ANYTHING. How can they
do that???
They broke a bunch of stuff in the Hemp Museum during their search. They
offered to put everything back, but they made it pretty clear that they
would wreck everything they could if they had to clean up their own
mess. So I stood out there in the middle of the night trying to get
everything back in the truck.
ELVY MUSIKKA: Officer Patrick and the other highway patrolmen might be
interested to know that they made me feel like I was in some foreign
police state where you don't have any rights. Those troopers made me
feel I was in a very different country than the one where I took an oath
to defend and uphold the Constitution. I became a citizen by choice, not
chance, and I know my rights. Seeing these Kansas highway patrolmen
trample on the Constitution made me feel very bad. They knew our rights,
but they didn't care if they violated them. Officer Patrick and the rest
of them knew right from the beginning that I have a legal right to have
marijuana, but they didn't let that stop them. I'm considering a civil
rights suit. 77777771632
----------------------------------------------------------------------
-The Visionary
[email protected]
|
|
