Alabama grandparents lose home, possessions, dog over $50 worth of weed

An Alabama couple, with no prior criminal history, have lost everything after a police raid on their home in January 2018–supposedly performed due to an alleged cannabis odour–netted a single Lunesta pill (prescription sleep aid eszopiclone) and about USD$50 worth of cannabis flower.

Randolph County Drug Task Force searched the Woodland home of grandparents Teresa and Greg Almond, who had lived in the house for 27 years according to the Alabama Appleseed Center for Law & Justice.

While the couple was incarcerated, authorities spent the night seizing their possessions, including a coin collection, a gun collection, Teresa’s wedding rings, antique guitars, approximately USD$8,000 in cash savings–and the house itself. The Almonds’ beloved pet dog was also lost as police left the doors open during the search, during which it escaped.

On January 31 of last year, a sheriff’s deputy claimed to detect the odour of cannabis wafting from the Almonds’ modest home. A task force broke down the door to the house, employed a flashbang grenade to stun the inhabitants and ordered the Almonds to the floor with guns drawn before starting an intensive search.

The couple spent the night in jail once the cannabis and pill were found. Since the pill was outside of its labelled prescription bottle, the couple was charged with felony possession of a controlled substance in addition to second-degree possession of cannabis.

The Almonds say the cannabis belonged to their adult son, who informed authorities that his parents were unaware of its presence in the house.

While the couple was incarcerated, authorities spent the night seizing their possessions, including a coin collection, a gun collection, Teresa’s wedding rings, antique guitars, approximately USD$8,000 in cash savings–and the house itself. The Almonds’ beloved pet dog was also lost as police left the doors open during the search, during which it escaped.

Although the felony charge for the Lunesta was eventually dropped by a grand jury, the cannabis charge stands. The Almonds have filed a case against law enforcement alleging that their civil rights were violated and that the seized property had no connection to any criminal act and should not have been confiscated.

“I’m not right,” Teresa Almond told Appleseed researcher Leah Nelson of her trauma after the raid. “I have not been right since the day it happened. That was my home. I raised all my babies in there. And my grandbabies. If my grandbabies would have been there that day, they would have hurt my grandbabies. I have nowhere to bring my babies to spend time with them. ‘Cause this is not [an environment] that I want my grandbabies in, and them remembering that we lived in a shack because of cops.”

The forfeiture of civil assets related to crime has come under further criticism as a result of the case, especially in light of the fact that the state of Alabama neither tracks or publicly discloses its income from those forfeitures.

Alabama has some of the strictest cannabis laws in the United States. Currently, not even the use of medical cannabis is permitted in the state.