NJ Weedman Sues after City Destroys his ‘Weedmobile’
Earlier this summer, we reported on cannabis activist NJ Weedman aka Ed Forchion’s legal battles in his home state of New Jersey. Forchion and the Fully Informed Jury Associationhave been doing jury nullification outreach in response to his case and others like it.
Now, NJ Weedman is making local headlines again, this time to speak out against civil asset forfeiture after his “Weedmobile” was destroyed. Weedman’s van was a 1986 Ford E-150 that featured a colorful, controversial portrait of him blowing smoke into Uncle Sam’s face. Forchion used the van as an advertisement for his restaurant and ‘cannabis temple’ and as a protest against New Jersey marijuana laws that he calls ‘hypocritical’.
Trenton police called Forchion’s weedmobile an “irritant”, and it was reduced to a hunk of metal. After police raided his restaurant and temple earlier this year, the weedmobile and delivery truck were seized under New Jersey’s civil forfeiture law, which allows authorities to take property they believe was used to commit a crime. Weedman planned to pick up the van, but says that due to police misinformation, he was unaware of the process he had to go through to do so. Law enforcement also seized a reported $19,000 worth of cannabis from Forchion and arrested 11 people in the raid.