Three local college students are considering filing a civil suit against the Onondaga County Sheriff’s Department because of arrests they say violated their constitutional rights, said Patrick Head, a Syracuse University student who was part of the group arrested.

Head, a junior; Gerrit Cain, a junior at State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry; and Jennifer Copeland, a student at Onondaga Community College, were arrested in December for unlawful possession of marijuana after passing out energy bars, pretzels and other foods that contained hemp in front of the Public Safety Department in Syracuse.

‘We were speaking out about a controversial subject and they arrested us only after repeatedly asking us to leave,’ Head said. ‘These are not illegal substances and the cops should have known the law before they carried it out.’

The charges against the three were dropped Thursday in Syracuse City Court because police lab testing of the foods found no presence of THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, the substance that makes marijuana hallucinogenic. Initial field tests of the products found a presence of the substance, but those tests are not permissible in court, said Craig Schlanger, Copeland’s attorney.

Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick could not be reached for comment.

At the time of the group’s arrest, similar protests were also being held in 70 other cities across the country to rally against federal regulations that make edible hemp illegal. Cain, Copeland and Head were the only three arrested anywhere in the country in connection with the protests, Head said.

Gary Sommer, director of SU’s legal services, who represented Head and Cain, was confident that the charges against the three would be dropped.

‘The second day after I took this case I thought it was very clear that they didn’t commit the crime they were accused of,’ Sommer said.

Schlanger agreed and said he would represent all three students in any civil suits they might pursue. Sommer can’t be involved in any civil suits stemming from the matter because SU’s legal services only defends students involved in criminal matters, he said.

Cain said the group wouldn’t pursue any civil charges until they’re sure they have a chance to win. One of the primary reasons the three want to bring the civil charges against the sheriff’s department is in part to prove a point, he said.

‘We want to see if we can get more attention because the biggest barrier we face is a result of pure ignorance,’ Cain said. ‘If we can expose that in any way possible, the charges are worth pursuing.’

Schlanger said he’s not at liberty to discuss any pending civil suits at this time, but Copeland said she thinks the group has a ‘pretty good chance’ to win a civil suit because of the way the sheriff’s department handled the situation.

‘The police weren’t listening to what our products are used for,’ Copeland said. ‘They just arrested us because they thought it was something it’s not.’

Head also thinks the three were arrested because the police didn’t know what the foods were, he said.

‘If this were really a marijuana arrest they wouldn’t have asked us to leave,’ he said. ‘They would’ve have just arrested us. But because we defended our right to stand there and speak our mind and would not leave – that’s when they arrested us.’

Published on April 1, 2002 at 12:00 pm