T
The420Guy
Guest
Apr. 18, 00
Press Democrat
By Clark Mason
****
Medical marijuana patients filled a Sonoma County courtroom Thursday to support three defendants who claim they are unfairly being prosecuted for growing medical pot. Kenneth Hayes, Cheryl Sequeira and Michael Foley face charges of cultivating and possessing marijuana in connection with the seizure of more than 800 plants, about 20 pounds of dried marijuana and one pound of dried hashish confiscated last May at their King Road home in Petaluma.
Hayes, 32, executive director of a San Francisco-based cannabis club, contends the operation was a cooperative that provides medical pot for more than 1,000 seriously ill people in the Bay Area. Sonoma County authorities, however, are attempting to portray the growers as driven by profit, no different from other illicit marijuana growers. The court case could help settle the question about marijuana co-ops in the wake of Proposition 215, the initiative approved by California voters in 1996 allowing the use of medical marijuana.
While the initiative legalized its use, it did not specify how people were supposed to get the drug. Sonoma County District Attorney Mike Mullins has taken actions to allow patients with doctor approval to grow plants for personal use. But he says nothing in the generally worded law allows people to grow large amounts of marijuana to sell or distribute.
William Panzer, Hayes' attorney and a co-author of Proposition 215, said higher courts have recognized the right of a caregiver to grow marijuana for more than one patient. Hayes' organization, CHAMP, or Cannabis Helping Alleviate Medical Problems, has been commended for its work by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and Mayor Willie Brown in resolutions passed last year. Chris Andrian, the Santa Rosa attorney representing Sequeira, said, "We have a situation where the city and county of San Francisco were lauding them and the County of Sonoma is condemning them."
On Thursday, the long-delayed preliminary hearing got under way in Judge Frank Passalacqua's courtroom in front of about 40 medical marijuana advocates who rode up on a chartered bus from San Francisco. In three hours of testimony Thursday, Sonoma County sheriff's narcotics deputy Steve Gossett detailed the number of plants that were seized at the King Road home and greenhouse, along with a loaded .22 rifle and $3,300 in cash. Gossett testified that some of the written records, or "pay-owes," he seized from the house convinced him the marijuana was for the purposes of sale and resale. But Panzer told the court the defendants were going to be reimbursed for their growing and costs. The hearing continues today.
© 2000 The Press Democrat
Press Democrat
By Clark Mason
****
Medical marijuana patients filled a Sonoma County courtroom Thursday to support three defendants who claim they are unfairly being prosecuted for growing medical pot. Kenneth Hayes, Cheryl Sequeira and Michael Foley face charges of cultivating and possessing marijuana in connection with the seizure of more than 800 plants, about 20 pounds of dried marijuana and one pound of dried hashish confiscated last May at their King Road home in Petaluma.
Hayes, 32, executive director of a San Francisco-based cannabis club, contends the operation was a cooperative that provides medical pot for more than 1,000 seriously ill people in the Bay Area. Sonoma County authorities, however, are attempting to portray the growers as driven by profit, no different from other illicit marijuana growers. The court case could help settle the question about marijuana co-ops in the wake of Proposition 215, the initiative approved by California voters in 1996 allowing the use of medical marijuana.
While the initiative legalized its use, it did not specify how people were supposed to get the drug. Sonoma County District Attorney Mike Mullins has taken actions to allow patients with doctor approval to grow plants for personal use. But he says nothing in the generally worded law allows people to grow large amounts of marijuana to sell or distribute.
William Panzer, Hayes' attorney and a co-author of Proposition 215, said higher courts have recognized the right of a caregiver to grow marijuana for more than one patient. Hayes' organization, CHAMP, or Cannabis Helping Alleviate Medical Problems, has been commended for its work by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and Mayor Willie Brown in resolutions passed last year. Chris Andrian, the Santa Rosa attorney representing Sequeira, said, "We have a situation where the city and county of San Francisco were lauding them and the County of Sonoma is condemning them."
On Thursday, the long-delayed preliminary hearing got under way in Judge Frank Passalacqua's courtroom in front of about 40 medical marijuana advocates who rode up on a chartered bus from San Francisco. In three hours of testimony Thursday, Sonoma County sheriff's narcotics deputy Steve Gossett detailed the number of plants that were seized at the King Road home and greenhouse, along with a loaded .22 rifle and $3,300 in cash. Gossett testified that some of the written records, or "pay-owes," he seized from the house convinced him the marijuana was for the purposes of sale and resale. But Panzer told the court the defendants were going to be reimbursed for their growing and costs. The hearing continues today.
© 2000 The Press Democrat