Dying Pot Smoker Sues Store for Reporting Him December 7, 2001 11:16 am EST

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A terminally ill man who was charged with growing marijuana at his trailer home after a drugstore clerk gave his photos of the plants to police has sued the chain, saying he smoked pot for medicinal purposes.

Glenn Randall Miller, 42, was arrested in October after the Sav-on Drugs store clerk who was processing a roll of his film saw the marijuana plants and showed them to police in the Los Angeles suburb of Montebello.

He sued Sav-on, which is owned by No. 2 U.S. supermarket chain Albertson's Inc., in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleging false imprisonment, infliction of emotional distress, negligence and invasion of privacy.

"I've been a loyal customer of Sav-on ever since I've had physical problems," Miller told reporters at a press conference outside his trailer home, where the plants had been ripped from the garden by police officers with search warrants.

"They've outlawed a substance a lot of people really need for their medical problems," he said.

Miller, an unemployed Air Force veteran who says doctors have given him only about a year to live because he suffers from cardiovascular disease, lung disease, emphysema and stomach disorders, spent a night in jail, his attorneys said.

He faces charges of cultivating marijuana, possession of marijuana for sale and possession of methamphetamine for sale.

Attorney Steven Weinberger said Miller sued Sav-on because they took his personal property -- the photographs -- and gave them to the police based on suspicions that he broke the law.

-- Anonymous, December 08, 2001