LAS VEGAS - Rhonda Shade's garage used to be packed with pot. Dozens of marijuana plants are now gone. The lights that used to hang in the garage were seized in a drug raid.
"They've taken our finished medicine, which was ready for use, and they took all of our equipment," she said. "Law enforcement is taught to look for these lights and these plants growing, and maybe it looks crazy to them, but it was beautiful to us. That was our medicine, and we took pride in it. There's nothing wrong with that, and I'm not going to be ashamed of that."
Shade says she would rather treat her back pain with pot than a prescription drug. The Nevada Division of Health accepted her application for a medical marijuana card. She claims a doctor's note indicates her husband can grow more than the seven plants the law allows.
Shade recently lobbied the Nevada Legislature to relax Nevada's medical marijuana law. She had just returned from Carson City Saturday night, when Metro Police showed up armed with a search warrant.
"There were about 40 mature plants here," she said.
Police also confiscated THC-laced chocolate fudge from the family home near Craig Road and Buffalo Drive.
Buying pot, even as a patient, is illegal in Nevada. Metro believes Shade and her husband Lowel were illegally selling the drug.
"We are medical patients. I have the law right here. We worked within the law and what our doctor said. We did not sell marijuana here," she said.
According to the arrest report, an officer discovered tally marks on a white board in the home. The officer claims the marks indicate the Shades were collecting "donations" from medical marijuana sales.
She says the tally marks are from the family's pool games. She also says a note reading, "leaf donations" is a fundraising idea she jotted down for her lobbying efforts.
As authorities step up their raids on pot shops and grow houses, Shade gets emotional. "Even though we're medical patients who have not been proven guilty in a court of law, they're going to destroy the way we make our medicine. That's just not fair," she said.
The Shades are also charged with child endangerment, because their 14-year-old son was living in the home. The family says he was not in harm's way and would never be allowed to smoke pot. Shade says it's a bogus charge.
Metro Police declined to comment for this story.
Rhonda Shade
Lowel Shade
