

Viral footage shows a group of Missouri policemen searching through a terminal cancer patient’s belongings for marijuana.

Nolan Sousley, a stage-four pancreatic cancer patient admitted to the Citizens Memorial Hospital, posted a video to Facebook Live on Wednesday night showing several officers from the Bolivar, Missouri police department entering Sousley’s hospital room to search his private belongings for medical marijuana.

One officer explains that the department received complaints from someone who said they smelled weed coming from Sousley’s room. Sousley openly admits to taking capsules containing THC oil, citing that he never smokes or uses ground-up plants.

The officer goes on to search one of Sousley’s bags, despite having already shown the officer the plastic bag containing the THC capsules.

“It has my final day things in there,” says Sousley while the police officer rummages through his belongings, “and nobody’s going to dig in it. It’s my stuff, it’s my final hour stuff is in that bag. It’s my right to have my final — I’m not digging it down here in front of everybody.”

Sousley then brings up Missouri’s voter-approved Amendment 2 initiative from November that established a medical cannabis program. An officer replies that the law has not yet taken effect.

“I don’t have time to wait for that,” Sousley said. “Tell me what you’d do.”

Citizens Memorial Healthcare declined to confirm any details, but issued the following statement to the Springfield News-Leader:

“Unfortunately, due to HIPAA (federal privacy law), we are unable to comment about any specific patient, their treatment or what was done or not done in any particular situation. Generally speaking, it is against the Hospital’s policy to smoke or vape on the Hospital’s campus. It is also our policy to call appropriate law enforcement any time Hospital personnel see or reasonably suspect illegal drug use in patient rooms or otherwise on campus.”

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