'I have a card, man': Communist card-carrying medical marijuana user arrested after lighting up

Brian Powers is proud to be a Communist.

The U.S. Navy veteran, who served two tours of duty in the Persian Gulf, has his own online radio station in the basement of his red-painted home in the Avenel section of Woodbridge called New Jersey Revolution Radio dedicated to the socialist cause.

He's also a proud card-carrying medical marijuana user.

It was the combination of these two things that led to his November arrest outside the Middlesex County Courthouse in New Brunswick, when Powers was charged by Middlesex County sheriff's officers with smoking marijuana.

And that led to more charges, including resisting arrest and spitting in the face of a law enforcement officer.

But Powers, 43, isn't debating whether he smoked marijuana. Being a medical marijuana patient in New Jersey, he is permitted by state law to possess and consume the drug — even in public places.

"I was working in New Brunswick," he said. "I'm a community organizer, an activist. I've worked in the labor communities, I've done social justice work and all that kind of stuff — I'm a Communist."

READ: Medical marijuana availability growing in New Jersey

Powers was in New Brunswick for a business meeting for his radio station, which he co-owns with Heather Warburton. He took a break from the meeting and stepped outside onto Patterson Street.

"I figured I'd have a puff, had a little anxiety during the day," he said. Powers has a prescription from a doctor for medical marijuana to relieve anxiety.

He walked up Patterson Street looking for a spot to light up, mindful of staying away from any doorways.

He found a spot he believed was suitable and asked a woman nearby if people usually smoke here.

"She goes, 'Oh yeah, people smoke here all the time,'" he said. "I stepped out to the street, so I can blow my smoke into the street and that's how he saw me. The cop was sitting down the street and he sees me light up my bowl (referring to a glass pipe used for smoking)."

Powers said he has smoked in front of police officers before and the most he's gotten was a "funny look" from an officer in Newark, but once he said, "I have a card, man," the officer was fine.

Nov. 14 was different.

The arrest

"This cop right away was apparently mad and was like, 'What are you doing?’” Powers said. "I have this running joke when people ask me what I'm doing. I look at them and go, 'It's OK, Phil Murphy says I can do this.'"

The sheriff's officer "didn't find the humor in it," Powers said.

"Immediately I realized he was being way more serious, and I was a little stoned," Powers said. "I put my bowl down. I gave him my [medical] card. He asked for my license. I gave him my license."

Two more sheriff's officers approached him where he was sitting outside the courthouse, across the street from the Keefe Bartels law firm and Clydz restaurant.

"I was on a public sidewalk," Powers said.

That didn't stop the three sheriff's officers from arresting him.

Middlesex County Sheriff Mildred Scott did not respond to requests for comment.

According to the police report written by Sheriff's Officer Joseph Vangerud and obtained by MyCentralJersey, the officers approached Powers because they noticed he had a glass pipe in his hands and "could smell a strong odor of marijuana."

READ: Medical marijuana dispensary tech program comes to RVCC

When Vangerud asked what Powers was doing, he told the officers he was "going to smoke his weed," according to the report. He also told Vagerud he could smoke in that location because it was a public smoking area.

"He handed me a New Jersey Department of Health medical marijuana card with his name and picture on it," Vangerud wrote. "I asked him for additional identification and he provided me with his New Jersey driver's license."

Vangerud, according to his report, went inside the courthouse, spoke with a "zone prosecutor" and decided to charge Powers with possession of marijuana.

While being escorted into the courthouse, Powers allegedly "began pulling his arms away and yelling profanities."

He yelled, "[Expletive] you pigs" in Vangerud's direction, "with spittle hitting me in the face."

The officers used force and included a use of force report in their report.

Powers was also charged with the indictable offenses of throwing bodily fluids at a law enforcement officer and obstructing the administration of law. Until that day he had no criminal record in Superior Court.

According to court records, both charges were later downgraded in New Brunswick Municipal Court as disorderly persons charges.

His marijuana-related charges were dismissed.

Education efforts

The state defines smoking medical marijuana as same the definition of "smoking" in the Smoke Free Air Act.

"Patients may not smoke medicinal marijuana in a school bus, on public transportation, or in a private vehicle while in motion," according to guidelines defined by the state Department of Health's Division of Medicinal Marijuana. "Additionally, patients may not smoke medicinal marijuana on any school grounds or at any correctional facility, public park, beach, recreation center, or other place where smoking is prohibited."

"Brian’s arrest is typical of how New Jersey medicinal cannabis patients are treated — no compassion," said Edward "Lefty" Grimes, a medical marijuana patients' rights activist.

Along with Michelle Burns, another medical marijuana patient, Grimes is working to educate police departments and municipalities on patients' rights. He organized a grassroots group a group, Sativa Cross, to advance the cause.

"Just another one of us getting thrown into jail improperly for no reason," Burns said of Powers' arrest. "We've been through this a lot of times before with other patients. It's unbelievable."

Grimes and Burns recently joined Powers in visiting where he was arrested. The group smoked marijuana in front of a sheriff's officer.

Powers said the effort brought immediate results.

In a video Grimes posted to Facebook, he asks a Middlesex County sheriff's officer if they were allowed to smoke marijuana outside the courthouse.

"Does she have like one of those cards?" the sheriff's officer asked of Burns. "If this is a YouTube video, I'm not getting involved, okay?"

"But when there's no video, you guys get involved," Grimes replied. "I don't understand that."

Powers' case

Although he admitted he used profanities, Powers said he did not resist arrest.

"I'm in [expletive] cuffs!" he said. "How the [expletive] can I be resisting?"

From his past activism he said he had learned techniques to be peacefully arrested.

READ: State OKs medical marijuana farm in Readington at former Walmart site

"I've been involved in some activism since the arrest. I was involved in activism before the arrest," he said. "They just picked the wrong dude, what can I say?"

Powers said he is contemplating filing a civil lawsuit against the Middlesex County Sheriff's Office.

He said if the charges are dropped, he won't sue.

"I didn't want this to happen. This wasn't a plan, this wasn't a strategy," he said. "I just feel like I didn't do anything wrong, so I'm not going to plead guilty."

But for now, he'll continue to light up his medical marijuana and wait and see how his charges play out in municipal court. His next scheduled appearance is March 3.

"The ball's in my court," he said.

If, however, he does have to pay a fine, Powers said his "comrades will pitch in."

Email: ngmuscavage@gannettnj.com

Nick Muscavage is a watchdog reporter for the Courier News, Home News Tribune and MyCentralJersey.com. To get unlimited access to his investigative work that has exposed wrongdoing and changed state law, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.