Pubdate: Thu, 19 Dec 2002
Source: San Diego Union Tribune (CA)
Copyright: 2002 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.
Contact:  http://www.uniontrib.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/386
Author: Jeff McDonald, Staff Writer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?115 (Cannabis - California)

MARIJUANA ACTIVIST TARGET OF POLICE RAID

San Diego police raided the home of a well-known medical marijuana
activist, seizing 13 pounds of the drug, more than 100 plants and
thousands of dollars in cash but making no arrests.

Investigators said they found evidence that the suspects were
illegally growing and selling marijuana, including more than $11,000
in cash discovered at the house.

Medical marijuana supporters argued yesterday that the amount of
marijuana confiscated appears to be within guidelines approved in
October by a committee of the San Diego City Council.

It was the second raid targeting a prominent activist this fall.

Tuesday, police searched the College Area home of Dion Markgraaff, a
33-year-old marijuana user who once ran a cannabis club in Ocean Beach
and who testified often before the city's medical marijuana task force.

"We found evidence that indicates cultivation and selling of
marijuana," said Lt. Cesar Solis, who served on the task force that
developed the proposed medical marijuana guidelines. "Qualified
patients do have a right to marijuana, but they don't have the right
to stockpile large amounts."

The raid came as members of the San Diego City Council prepare to
consider recommendations next month that, if approved, would lay out
conditions under which medical marijuana patients could grow and
possess the drug.

In October, the council's Public Safety and Neighborhood Services
committee approved guidelines allowing patients to possess 72 plants
and three pounds of marijuana. Caregivers would be allowed to have 90
plants and up to nine pounds of the drug.

Markgraaff and his roommate, who was not identified, were deemed by
police to be qualified medical marijuana patients. In fact, police
allowed them to retain one plant each and an ounce of marijuana
between them. Markgraaff also is a recognized caregiver.

The amount of marijuana found in the Stewart Street residence appears
to be permissible under the city plan developed in response to
Proposition 215, the state initiative that approved medical marijuana.
However, the drug remains illegal under federal law.

Markgraaff said police approached him at a coffeehouse near his home
about 8:30 a.m. Tuesday. They handcuffed him, took him to his house
and about 20 officers began searching the residence.

"For them to come like storm troopers, with battering rams and machine
guns - that's pretty extreme," Markgraaff said yesterday. "I don't
know how we rate so high on their list of priorities."

Markgraaff, who uses marijuana to alleviate symptoms of diabetes,
served probation after pleading guilty to a charge of maintaining a
place where pot is distributed. He was arrested in 1998 along with
Steve McWilliams, another medical marijuana activist who also served
probation. McWilliams is facing federal drug charges after his arrest
by drug enforcement agents in October.

Markgraaff said $1,200 of the money seized Tuesday was his. But the
majority belongs to his roommate's relative, who was traveling out of
the country, he said.

The case will be forwarded to the District Attorney's Office, which
will decide whether to file charges. If county prosecutors decline to
act, federal officials may.

"How can you not look at it as drug trafficking when (more than)
$10,000 was seized?" said Michael Vigil, special agent in charge of
the San Diego Drug Enforcement Administration office.

Vigil also said he may testify against the city guidelines at the
upcoming hearing. "Anybody would be able to get access to marijuana,"
he said.

Juliana Humphrey, a public defender who serves as chairwoman of the
committee that developed the proposed guidelines, questioned the
timing of the raid.

"It's not a coincidence that they are doing this right at a time when
the council is weighing the guidelines," she said.

In May, as the medical marijuana task force was completing the
proposal it sent to the council committee, San Diego police raided a
marijuana garden in City Heights.

In that case, police confiscated two dozen seedlings and about a
half-dozen mature plants from a woman whose garden was discovered by
an officer responding to a robbery report. She never was charged.

Mayor Dick Murphy declined to discuss yesterday's raid.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Richard Lake