Hard-hearted cops in America seized a terminally-ill cancer patient because he had been using cannabis extracts to ease his pain.
Police in Kansas arrested 69-year-old Greg Bertz for drug possession in his room at Hays Medical Center on December 16.
They seized a vape kit and edible paste containing tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) - the principal psychoactive constituent of cannabis - from his room.
They notified him he must attend a court hearing on 2nd January, even though he is bed-ridden with terminal cancer and cannot even stand unassisted.
Greg's son Lee Bretz branded the incident "humiliating" for his dad, adding that it left the 69-year-old "pretty upset".
He said: "He can’t make it to court. He’s bedridden. He can’t move his legs.”
“You’d think they would have shown a lot of compassion and not done anything,” he added.
Speaking with the Wichita Eagle, Greg said he was lying "flat on his back" for around three weeks and had been coping with the disease by inhaling from a vaping device and eating THC paste on bread.
He had been advised by a doctor to "do whatever he wants if it makes him feel better".
This was because medics had run out of treatment options for the dad other than putting him in a hospice.
But rather than following the advice of that doctor, a member of hospital staff caught him using the vaping device and called police.
The three officers who visited him explained to him that the device was a fire safety hazard, given the hospital room is provisioned with oxygen.
Greg told a friend he would try to contact prosecutors to see if they would delay the hearing so that he will be dead by the time it arrives.
Hays Police Chief Don Scheiber said the department was initially contacted about the vaping as a "potential fire hazard".
He admitted they were also notified of THC possession "which is illegal in the state of Kansas".
After reviewing audio from the officers' interaction with the bedridden patient, he said rumours of a "Christmastime hospital-room raid" were inaccurate, stressing: "It's not a raid".
Sheiber said the recording lasted less than eight minutes and that cops were "polite courteous and respectful" throughout.
A summons for a drug violation charge was issued but later reversed after the officer had second thoughts, Scheiber added.
The officer contacted the prosecutor's office recommending the charge be dismissed, but due to the Christmas holiday, it wasn't picked up in time and news broke of the incident.
“At the end of the day, they showed compassion and empathy, and that’s what they want from law enforcement,” Scheibler said.
“They made the decision to write the ticket and made the recommendation to dismiss it on their own. It wasn’t anything that happened in the news.”
Scheiber added that on December 27, he personally let the patient know the department wasn't taking the citation any further.
In the days after the incident, more than 100 people have called or emailed Hays police, with the hospital said to have also received threats.
“As a police officer, we don’t determine what the law is,” Scheibler said. “I think the discussion about medical marijuana needs to happen.”
Kansas is one of only three US states that fully ban marijuana for medical purposes. The others are Nebraska and Idaho.
