Judge denies Kamloops, B.C., man’s plea to have seized marijuana plants returned

KAMLOOPS, B.C. – A provincial court judge has denied a Kamloops, B.C., man’s application to be reunited with 10 medical marijuana plants that were seized by RCMP last summer.

Judge Roy Dickey says he sympathizes with Henry Rhode’s plight, but he was breaking the law by having expired licenses and not growing at an approved site.

Dickey criticizes what he calls a “bureaucratic bungle” created by the Conservative government and Health Canada when the country’s medical marijuana rules were changed.

He says a new law requiring those with permits to grow medical pot to instead purchase from an approved supplier has left people like Rhode “out to dry.”

Rhode says he uses the marijuana for relief of a brain injury he suffered in 2007, but says the price to purchase from an approved supplier is too high.

The pot plants were taken away after Mounties discovered them during a disturbance complaint in Rhode’s apartment building on June 17, 2014. (Kamloops This Week)