A 64-year-old Hulen Meadows resident claims he nearly had a heart attack when a "full-tilt SWAT team" showed up at his home north of Ketchum on Sept. 18 with a search warrant and assault rifles and pistols drawn.
"Those guys scared me to death with their guns," said Daniel E. Collins, who bears a scar on his chest from when he previously had open-heart surgery. "My blood pressure went over the moon. I had chest pain and they called an ambulance."
The Blaine County Narcotics Enforcement Team also executed the search warrant, and Collins acknowledges that they found what they were looking for—marijuana plants and the equipment used to cultivate them.
It wasn't a big haul. The narcotics team reported in a news release that they found three growing plants and others set aside to dry. The team also reported confiscating "lighting equipment, fertilizer and other items used to facilitate the growing of marijuana."
Collins wasn't arrested. Instead, he was taken to St. Luke's Wood River Medical Center where he was treated and released.
He hasn't even been formally charged, but the narcotics team reported that he faces felony charges of trafficking in drugs, manufacturing a controlled substance and possessing marijuana. The case is currently in the hands of the Blaine County Prosecuting Attorney's Office for issuance of a criminal summons to Collins, the narcotics team reported.
Collins said he was growing pot for medicinal reasons and provided the Idaho Mountain Express with documentation to show that he has a prescription for the drug. But it's only good in California.
Collins said smoking marijuana helps reduce lower back pain from an accident he suffered in 1981 while serving aboard the USS America aircraft carrier. Collins served in the U.S. Navy for 20 years, is a Vietnam veteran and is now classed as 80 percent disabled from the aircraft carrier accident.
He said marijuana decreases the pain to a "livable level."
Collins contended that the narcotics raid on his home was a bit overdone. It started with a knock on his door at about 2:40 p.m. the day of the bust. He opened the door and was met by a uniformed officer who introduced himself and extended his hand. Collins said that when he took the officer's hand he was suddenly jerked outside and told he could either cooperate or do it the hard way.
He said he had little choice but to cooperate, with more than a half dozen armed officers standing nearby. Collins said no one pointed a weapon directly at him but said officers were holding the guns in a "ready" position.
"They should know I'm not a criminal enterprise," Collins said. "I'm just growing it for myself. I've never sold any."
With his stash now confiscated, Collins said he's had to increase his intake of prescription painkillers, drugs he claimed are far more dangerous than smoking marijuana.
He thinks marijuana should be legalized in Idaho, if not entirely then at least for medicinal purposes.
"I'm not going to be found not guilty," Collins said, noting that being convicted of a felony would especially disturb him because he would lose his right to vote, despite being a veteran.
"I'm just hoping that there's enough pressure on the DA's office that they're going to reduce it to a misdemeanor," Collins said.
Terry Smith: tsmith@mtexpress.com
Hulen Meadows resident Daniel E. Collins, a Vietnam veteran with 20 years service in the U.S. Navy, said police nearly caused him a heart attack when they showed up at his home with weapons drawn and a search warrant on Oct. 18. Collins acknowledges that police found marijuana growing in his home, but insists he was cultivating the plant for medicinal reasons.
Photo by Willy Cook
