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Judge: Return marijuana to former Marine

A Colorado judge ruled Wednesday that police should return dozens of marijuana plants to a former Marine and 1991 Persian Gulf War veteran who is a licensed medical marijuana user.

“It’s great — I need my stuff back,” said Kevin Dickes, 39, a Denver-area construction worker who left the Marine Corps as a lance corporal in 1993.

Aurora, Colo., police raided Dickes’ home in April and seized plants growing in his basement. He was handcuffed, arrested and charged with a felony count of cultivating marijuana, which carries a maximum sentence of six years in prison.

But last week, prosecutors dropped the charge after confirming that Dickes is licensed to grow the plants under the Colorado state medical marijuana laws that voters approved in 2000.

In early 1991, Dickes was with 1st Battalion, 4th Marines, in Kuwait helping to transport Iraqi prisoners of war when one of them detonated a grenade that sprayed him with shrapnel.

Years later, doctors diagnosed him with a chronic vascular condition that stems from his wartime injury and causes severe pain and swelling in his leg. Earlier this year, he took his Department of Veterans Affairs records to a Denver-area clinic and obtained the growing license.

Arapahoe District Judge John Wheeler granted Dickes’ motion requesting return of his plants, but Dickes and his attorney are skeptical that police have maintained the hydroponically grown plants for eight months.

“I doubt they have the resources to have a grow room at the police station. Are they going to pay some guy to sit there and take care of my marijuana?” Dickes said in a telephone interview.

Growing marijuana takes time, care and expertise, he said, adding that he may seek financial damages if police fail to deliver the plants in good condition.

“We’re going to get the property back, and then we’ll make our assessment as to whether compensation is warranted,” said Dickes’ attorney, Robert Corry.

Police reports said they seized 71 plants, but Corry said it wasn’t that many because some of the plants were “clones” and not fully grown.

The Drug Enforcement Agency applies a price of $5,200 to each pound of marijuana; if that standard applies, Dickes’ plants could be worth more than $100,000, depending on the weight.

Since police took his plants, Dickes said he has obtained marijuana only sporadically from friends and “caregivers.”

Read more about the case: Former Marine wants marijuana plants back