Over the holidays, a story that involved a terminal cancer patient from Kansas getting raided in his hospital room by three cops went viral in many advocate circles. The knee-jerk reaction by most, as expected, was anger and hate toward the police who could conduct such a travesty against a dying man.
As the story, which began as an opinion piece written prior to knowing the entirety of the situation, circled sources as news, the police department involved began getting threats. Eventually, Hays Police Department chief Don Scheibler felt the need to go on record to clarify what had happened.
The chief told local news sources that the two, not three, responding officers followed protocol. They first went to hospital staff who had already confiscated the vape in question. From there, they went directly to Mr. Bretz to get his version of the incident, not knowing he was terminal. Mr. Bretz was undoubtedly upset about what was happening to him, but the cops, in turn, listened to his plea. They issued the citation as directed by policy but drove directly to the office and asked the supervisor and prosecutor to promptly drop the ticket due to the patient’s terminal diagnosis.
Just like that, it was all dropped, even before the first opinion article was released to go viral, reminding those in the media that there must be vetting and research done prior to spreading certain opinions and
stories as legitimate news.
While this magazine does not condone any of the actions, whether by the police or the hospital, this true story also acts as a reminder that while most of the country has seen legalization or decriminalization, there are still the three holdout states that would rather profit from criminalizing cannabis patients and users over legalizing and taxation.
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