Law enforcement officials swarmed Jordan's home after a government employee who was visiting a neighbor spotted some marijuana plants on her property. Turns out, Jordan uses a wheelchair and has battled Lou Gehrig's disease since 1986. She uses marijuana as treatment.
However, last week, the State Attorney's Office in Manatee County decided to drop the charges against Cathy's husband, Robert, who owns the home. The case was dropped once it was established that Cathy needs marijuana for medical reasons.
Robert Jordan, 64, feels vindicated. "We've been doing this for 16 years, and, you know, finally it went through the legal system and they're saying we're right all along," he says.
With the case weighing over his head and jail time being a real possibility, Jordan had been unable to sleep. But, he says, if he had to do it all over again, he would — because he loves his wife, and pot is the only thing that alleviates her pain and keeps her going.
A spokesperson for the State Attorney's Office said that there is case law in Florida that allows people to use marijuana for medical purposes.
Of course, having an entire police squad treating people's homes like the final scene in Goodfellas for no real reason could be avoided if medical marijuana were made legal.
In fact, the latest bill attempting to legalize medical marijuana is named for Cathy Jordan. It, of course, has failed to make any progress while Republican leaders have handed down their own advice, including that people who need marijuana for medical reasons should uproot their lives and move to Colorado, where they get high in front of cops all the time.
But Robert and Cathy continue the struggle, even as they have been swept up by the ludicrousness of being treated like hardened criminals.
"There is a time you got to stand up," Robert says. "You've got to stand up, and that's the problem: Too many people don't stand up today; they just go along, and we're losing our rights left and right."
