Despite these obstacles, they plodded on in their work, staying safely within the guidelines so they would be protected under Rhode Island law. But they weren’t protected at all — beginning in September, 2016, their real nightmare began.
Our house was raided by the RI State Police and a group known as the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Task Force. While the raid was in progress, I tried to explain to the officers that we were licenced, and that we were under the limit with respect to the number of plants we were growing and the amount of marijuana we processed. But none of that mattered — I was told that regardless of state law, if they wanted to charge me, they could. According to the police, everything we were doing was illegal. I should point out that they never asked if we possessed patient or caregiver licenses — again, it didn’t matter.
There were about 20 officers in all, a few from federal agencies but mostly RI state police. They came in military style, with tactical gear and guns drawn, and destroyed all the plants and product, trashing our home in the process. The sad part was the CBD we were processing was for an epileptic boy we had worked with for a few years. He went from wearing a helmet and missing 2-3 days of school a week to riding dirt bikes and living a normal kid life. He still had a couple of seizures a year but nothing like it was. His quality of life had drastically improved, as did his family’s.
It was April 2017 before we were officially charged, and after a year and half of delays by the state we finally reached a deal in February 2018, accepting a two-year probation. We considered skipping the deal and going to trial, but that just didn’t make any sense. Even if we won the case, it wouldn’t bring back the medicine, the money, or the time that had already been taken from us, not to mention the additional legal fees we would have faced.
