YouTube Bolivar, Missouri police search a cancer patient's bag for marijuana.
Nolan Sousley, who has stage 4 pancreatic cancer, posted a video that went viral showing Bolivar, Missouri police officers searching his bags for marijuana in a hospital room.
You can watch the video below. Sousley streamed the video on Facebook Live and then posted it on YouTube, where it’s been viewed more than 800,000 times. He titled the video, “Pancreatic cancer marijuana hospital hassle.” He published the video on March 7, 2019. Kansas City.com reported that the agency involved was the Bolivar, Missouri Police Department. Nolan Sousley also posted the video to his Facebook page, “Nolan’s Tribe of Warriors Against Cancer.”
“Stage four pancreatic cancer accused of smoking marijuana in hospital. Missouri. They found no marijuana. Only cbd which is legal in Missouri. I should have the right to choose my end of life medication,” he wrote.
The Bolivar Herald Free-Press reported that the search took place at a Citizens Memorial Hospital patient room. Nolan Sousley is from Versailles, Missouri, the newspaper added. Sousley told the newspaper that a hospital security guard was the person who told police he could smell marijuana in Sousley’s room.
Here’s what you need to know:
The Police Told Sousley They Would Cite Him If They Found Marijuana
Nolan Sousley (r)
In the video, two uniformed police officers, one wearing blue rubber gloves, stand in what appears to be a hospital room. One searches through bags.
Sousley says, “I have stage four pancreatic cancer….I had some capsules that had some THC in them. I took them outside in the parking lot….I am going to get arrested.”
One cop says, “If we find marijuana, we are giving you a citation. We’re not taking you down to the county jail. But, we haven’t found marijuana so we’re not citing.”
“Why are you digging into this stuff. I told you where I took it,” Nolan says.
The cop says, “Because we got a call. You don’t think we respond to calls?”
Another man says, “Let’s let them look and do their job.”
“I want to know why it’s a big deal if it’s legal,” Nolan says. “Medically in Missouri it’s really legal now. They just haven’t finished the paperwork. What would you do?”
“I’m not in that situation, so I’m not going to play the what-if game,” says one of the cops.
Nolan asks the police officer if he’d do anything to save his life.
“Marijuana’s saving your life?” asks the cop.
The other man says, “It’s not worth the argument right now.”
Nolan says, “It’s my right to live, man. We’re Americans. I was born here. I have a right to live.”
A woman tells Nolan to calm down.
“I was waiting for someone to do this. Someone to make me famous,” Nolan says.
Nolan said he never uses the plant and doesn’t smoke it; it’s an oil he uses in a capsule. “I take it like a pill,” he said.
A woman asked the police if they had a right to search his stuff. They said yes.
“If we found any marijuana, we’d give him a citation… we’re just here because they called and said they smelled marijuana in the room,” a cop says. “…If we find it, we’ll cite it.”
Nolan Sousley then opposed the police looking through a bag that he said had his “final day stuff” in it, as he grew more emotional.
The hospital released a statement to the Bolivar newspaper that said the hospital couldn’t comment on a specific case but added that policy prevents people from smoking or vaping inside the hospital and noting, “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.”
Missouri passed an amendment to legalize marijuana but it hadn’t taken effect yet. Marijuana regulations will be published in June.