Three years after Huntington Beach police raided Jim Spray's one-man pot-growing operation, they returned the four ounces of medical marijuana and a small amount of hashish they confiscated because a judge ruled it shouldn't have been seized in the first place, the OC Register reports:

"That's a chunk of hash," said Spray, a 52-year-old trade show decorator from Huntington Beach. A tall, stocky police official watched as the medical marijuana patient inspected a tiny, eye shadow-sized container full of hashish. "It's still good. I almost forgot about all this," said Spray, who uses medical marijuana because of pain from a herniated disc. (Skip) The order came nearly nine months after the 4th District Court of Appeal ruled that the city must return Spray's marijuana and equipment taken from his home in November 2005. Spray was represented by attorneys with medical marijuana advocacy group Americans for Safe Access.

It's the second time the Huntington Beach police have had to return pot to its owner. Six months ago, a court ruling forced them to give back the Purple Urkel taken from Dave Lucas. Though California allows the use of medical marijuana, federal law doesn't. Between growing clubs and pot dispensaries, it's a legal netherworld that Jerry Brown, California's attorney general, has tried to address with new guidelines. And that pot farm in the photo? Legal. For now.

-- Veronique de Turenne

Photo: Robert Durell / Los Angeles Times