cannabisnews.com: ACLU Keeping Eye on Medical Pot Eviction 





ACLU Keeping Eye on Medical Pot Eviction 
Posted by CN Staff on October 24, 2008 at 06:53:13 PT
By Bruce Daniels, ABQnewsSeeker 
Source: Albuquerque Journal
New Mexico -- Paralyzed Silver City woman, evicted Tuesday, says she's getting calls from reporters, lawyers.Bobbie Wooten, the 47-year-old Silver City woman who was evicted from her apartment on Tuesday for growing medical marijuana says she's surprised by all the attention her story is getting, the Silver City Sun-News reported.
"I just want to be left alone but I also don't want this to happen to anyone else who is in pain and has followed the law just hoping for some relief," Wooten told the Sun-News."We are watching this situation very closely," Peter Simonson, executive director of the New Mexico American Civil Liberties Union. "It is our intention to make sure that people are able to use medical cannabis as they would any other legal medication."Wooten, who was severely injured in a car crash several years ago and is paralyzed from the waist down, was given a three-day eviction notice on Tuesday after a random inspection of her Silver City apartment turned up two marijuana plants in Wooten's bathroom."I think the landlord is trying to create a policy for his complex that conflicts with the policy of this state," Simonson told the Sun-News."I have a state license," Wooten told the Sun-News. "My plants are grown in a secure area ... my bathroom. They are not on my patio where anyone could have access to them."Licensed patients are not required to disclose to landlords that they are in New Mexico's medical marijuana program, nor does the state Department of Health disclose who is in the program, which currently has 191 patients, health department spokeswoman Deborah Busemeyer told the Sun-News.Wooten's apartment is managed by Kay-Kay Realty of Arizona, and its president, David Kotin, told the paper that the company is sticking by its decision to evict Wooten."My lease provides for a drug-free environment," Kotin told the Sun-News. "Obviously, she is in violation of my lease."Kotin said, however, that the three-day eviction notice would not be enforced."She is entitled to more time to have a (court) hearing," Kotin told the paper. "We are not unreasonable. She is entitled to a chance to defend her rights and plead her position."Wooten, meanwhile, said she has been contacted by reporters from around the country."I have been interviewed by television stations and will be on a radio talk show in Oregon. They are another state with medical marijuana laws," Wooten told the Sun-News.She also said she has been contacted by several lawyers but said she hadn't decided yet how to proceed legally, the paper reported. Source: Albuquerque Journal (NM)Author: Bruce Daniels, ABQnewsSeeker Published: Friday, October 24, 2008Copyright: 2008 Albuquerque JournalContact: opinion abqjournal.comWebsite: http://www.abqjournal.com/ Related Article:Silver City Woman Faces Eviction Over Marijuanahttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread24251.shtml
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