Reefer Madness 2.0: Problems with Oregon Law Enforcement’s Increasing Use of Asset Forfeiture to Battle Illegal Grows
CANNANNEW REPORT

  Following up on my Reefer Madness 2.0 post from last summer, various law enforcement agencies around the state have dusted off a controversial legal procedure in an attempt to forfeit land used to grow cannabis without a license. This controversial legal procedure, known as civil asset forfeiture, has been largely dormant in Oregon since the passage of a ballot measure in 2000 that limited state law enforcement agencies’ ability to seize real and personal property under its civil asset forfeiture this legal authority. However, with the rise of law enforcement’s use of this procedure in the context of its larger war on cannabis, I am seeing several problematic themes emerge. History of Civil Asset Forfeiture in Oregon Civil asset forfeiture refers to the government’s ability to seize, forfeit and sell real and personal property that is used in the commission of crime or represents the proceeds of criminal activity. Much has been written about abuses of this procedure, which is beyond the scope of this post. But the basic premise of civil asset forfeiture involves the government filing a lawsuit against the property it seeks to be forfeited (as opposed to the individual owners of the property), which is known to lawyers as an in rem proceeding, which then requires the owners to file a claim and assert their ownership interests in court. In 1989, the Oregon Legislature enacted a comprehensive civil forfeiture statute covering property used in the commission of controlled substances crimes, or the proceeds of such crimes. The statutes did not require that the owner of such property be convicted of, or even charged with, a crime, and because the proceeding was civil in nature, the government did not have to prove that a crime occurred beyond a reasonable doubt – rather, the much lower preponderance of the evidence standard…

Excerpt only …
READ MORE BELOW
Source : Reefer Madness 2.0: Problems with Oregon Law Enforcement’s Increasing Use of Asset Forfeiture to Battle Illegal Grows

reposted by Cannabis News World