HIV Positive Man Arrested for Cannabis Use by 60 Man SWAT Team

Gregg Levendoski depends on medical marijuana more than the average patient – Levendoski is co-infected with HIV and Hepatitis C. He’s also a victim of multiple forms of cancer. Levendoski’s battered immune system needs more than convential medicine can offer. Apache county police in Arizona decided they needed a 60-man task force equipped with tanks and a SWAT team in order to apprehend Levendoski and his wife and son.

At 4 a.m. The police raided their home in remote Arizona. “I was telling them from the moment I was standing there underneath the lights of their tanks, ‘We are card-holding medical marijuana patients,'” Levendoski explained to CBS 5. “They told me, ‘I don’t care.'”

“They are violating the law,” Commander Lance Spivey of the Apache County Sheriff’s Office said in a report. “Even if it is medical marijuana like they are claiming, there are rules and regulations they must follow.” Levendoski and his son are medical marijuana patients. Under Arizona law, they are entitled to 12 living plants each. Levendoski claims he was growing 23 plants. He says the police inflated the number to 33 plants in order to justify the raid. Police said one of the reasons Levendoski was arrested was for the lack of security in his own home. “I’m heartbroken,” Levendoski added. “That crop was to heal me.” Levendoski says he’s bent over backwards to comply with the law.

Levendoski was also one of nine patients arrested last May at a “Farmer’s Market” event. The Farmer’s Market is a medical marijuana event held twice a week at the 7Ten Club in Glendale, Arizona. Police arrested six vendors and three other men including Levendoski. They called the three other men “proprietors of the business.” “Approximately four weeks ago, the Glendale Police Department received complaints of suspicious activity related to the 7Ten Club at 5118 W. Camelback Road. The club has been hosting “Farmers’ Markets” twice a week,” states the department’s news release.

“Detectives conducted both surveillance and undercover operations that included 18 illegal marijuana transactions, during which they purchased marijuana from vendors. These activities were held under the guise of our current medical marijuana laws, but were nowhere within the boundaries of those laws and regulations.” Vendors reported that patients that had only edibles were allowed to walk away from the scene without a hassle.

A May 5th post from Club 7Ten’s Facebook page sounded hopeful.”The 7ten Club has new partners. Gregg is taking some time away to focus on his health and peacefulness. He has sold his share to our friends Scott & Becky. We wish Gregg the best always and we welcome Scott and Becky to the 7ten family.” This wasn’t the case however when police arrested Levendoski again, this time, for personal cannabis.

Gregg Levendoski is now seeking help from the Department of Health Services. Levendoski says he faces only a single charge of possession, but his son faces possession, cultivation, and paraphernalia charges. He doesn’t plan on going down without a fight.

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