Pubdate: Thu, 07 Mar 2002
Source: Petaluma Argus-Courier (CA)
Copyright: 2002 Pulitzer Community Newspapers, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.arguscourier.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/741
Author:  Lois Pearlman, Argus-Courier Staff

EX-PETALUMAN SAYS HE'S AN ATTRACTIVE TARGET TO FEDS

Ken Hayes Staying In Canada After Marijuana Bust.

A former Petaluma resident who was arrested in Canada two weeks ago on 
federal marijuana charges said the government is targeting him because he 
has proven with a previous acquittal that it is possible to grow medical 
marijuana in spite of federal laws.

Hayes was arrested in Vancouver Feb. 12 based on a complaint filed in 
federal district court in Oakland by Drug Enforcement Administration 
Special Agent Jon Pickette.

The complaint charges Hayes and Richard Watts of San Francisco with growing 
marijuana for sale at the 6th Street Harm Reduction Center, a medical 
marijuana buyers club in San Francisco.

According to the complaint, police found marijuana plants growing indoors 
when they conducted raids on the King Road property where Hayes lived until 
mid-January, and at the 6th Street Harm Reduction Center. The raids 
occurred Jan. 9 and Feb. 12.

Hayes and Watts face three charges of cultivating marijuana and maintaining 
a place for cultivation, punishable by five to 40 years in prison for each 
charge. Officials also arrested a third man, Edward Rosenthal of Oakland.

Hayes has been living in Canada since Jan. 13 with his partner Cheryl 
Sequeira and their 3-year-old daughter. He would not say whether or not he 
was still involved with the San Francisco buyers' club.

In a telephone interview, Hayes said he and his family moved to Canada 
"because we're fleeing the drug wars. They're infringing upon patients' 
rights to self-medicate."

Medical marijuana policies are more "humane' in Canada than in the U.S., 
where federal anti-marijuana laws take precedent over some laws in some 
states that legalize marijuana for medical use, Hayes said.

According to Hayes, federal DEA agents used paid informants to concoct a 
case against him.

But an affidavit in support of the search warrants for the King Road and 
San Francisco locations, details a surveillance operation begun in April, 
2001 which turned up evidence that Watts and Hayes were involved in 
marijuana trafficking between the U.S. and Canada.

Hayes questions the efficacy of government resources spent in busting 
producers of medical marijuana which, he said, is harmless at worst and 
valuable for pain relief and other medical purposes at best.

He said he is an attractive target because he was already acquitted in 
Sonoma County Superior Court last year for growing 899 plants for the 6th 
Street center. Marijuana for medical sue is legal under California law.

"Why is it they want to target medical marijuana so badly when they could 
be going after things that are really harmful?" he asked. "They want to 
target me because I've been outspoken, forthright and acquitted by a jury 
of my peers."
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