Pubdate: Sun, 22 Mar 2009 Source: Long Beach Press-Telegram (CA) Copyright: 2009 Los Angeles Newspaper Group Contact: http://www.presstelegram.com Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/244 Author: Tom Hennessy Bookmark: http://mapinc.org/topic/dispensaries Bookmark: http://mapinc.org/people/Charles+Lynch Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal) A FACE BEHIND THE MEDICAL-POT DISPENSARY DISPUTE Charlie Lynch opened his medical marijuana dispensary with a ribbon-cutting ceremony as well as a call to the Drug Enforcement Administration to check on its policy on dispensaries, he said. A year later, the DEA raided his business and home, and he faces sentencing Monday. Charlie Lynch did all the things people do when starting a business. He introduced himself to other merchants in his hometown of Morro Bay, joined the Chamber of Commerce and held a ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by the mayor, City Council and chamber officials. And since his business was the Central Coast Compassionate Caregivers, a medical marijuana dispensary, he had the foresight to call the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. "I called the DEA to find out their policy regarding medical marijuana dispensaries. They essentially told me it was up to the cities and counties to decide how to handle the matter." As a safeguard, he retained his phone record to prove he had made the DEA call. After suffering through three months of debilitating migraine headaches, Lynch, 46, had found relief through marijuana. But to get it, he had to drive 100 miles to a dispensary in Santa Barbara. That's when it came to him: Why not start his own dispensary and help others? On April 1, 2006, he did just that. "I felt we needed one in our local area to save people time and money," he says. "In the year the dispensary was open, I helped more people than I have in my entire life," says Lynch, formerly a self-employed software developer. In July 2006, the city of Morro Bay granted Lynch a conditional use permit to operate a medical cannabis nursery at his dispensary. Amputee helped One of Lynch's early clients was Owen Beck, a Morro Bay high-school senior who had bone cancer. Beck, who had played football, eventually lost a leg. But he says the marijuana provided by Lynch helped him through the pain of amputation. To this, Lynch says, "I felt privileged to help people while I was well and grateful for the help I received while I was sick." Yet, things have not gone well for Lynch. His dispensary, which he says never made a profit, was closed after a year. He is about to declare bankruptcy and is on the verge of losing his home. When I last communicated with him by phone and e-mail Wednesday, he was leaving for Los Angeles where, on Monday, he may be sentenced to several years in federal prison for dispensing medical marijuana. Complicating his case is the fact that Wednesday, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced the Justice Department will no longer prosecute sales of medical marijuana. Lynch is inclined to believe the ruling came too late to help him. Business, home raided At 11 a.m., March 29, 2007, two days before the dispensary's one-year anniversary, Lynch phoned his secretary at the facility. "I had been working all night and was calling to let her know I was running late. She was frantic and said, 'They are coming, Charlie."' That cryptic message became clear moments later, when Lynch's attorney called to say federal agents were raiding the dispensary. At almost that exact moment, he says, he heard fists pounding at the door of his house, and voices shouting, "Search warrant. Open the door!" When Lynch shouted that he was not dressed, he says, "They yelled back 'Open the door or we are going to bust it down."' He describes what happened next. "I opened the door and 10 to 15 DEA agents came barreling in with guns, masks, shields and bulletproof vests. They threw me on the ground and put a gun to the back of my head." After filing through his rooms, one behind the other, he says the agents sat him down at his kitchen table and placed a search warrant in front of him. "From the looks of the warrant, it sounded like they were hoping to find a huge grow(ing) operation in my house, which they did not find since I did not grow (marijuana) in my house. "Then they started bringing items out that they were going to seize and took my laptop computer and money I used to pay our vendors with. They also took my personal supply of medical marijuana. I asked them if I was under arrest, and they said that depended on what they found in the house. "They gathered up what they were going to take from me, brought in the local sheriff and his K-9 dogs ... then they packed up and left. I was not arrested that day." But his dispensary was closed and, according to Lynch, $27,000 he had set aside to pay vendors was seized. Lynch insists he ran his dispensary tightly, insisting on being given prescriptions from doctors before dispensing marijuana. "We required all patients to provide a valid California identification and a doctor's recommendation. We verified the (validity of the) doctors on the California medical board Web site to make sure they were in good standing. Then we called the doctors to verify the patients were in good standing." Sheriff gets involved At one point, a local TV station, KSBY, reported that the DEA had raided Lynch's home and dispensary at the suggestion of San Luis Obispo County Sheriff Pat Hedges. The sheriff has said the dispensary was "not in the best interest of a community that prides itself in providing a healthy family environment." Days after the raids, the clinic reopened with the approval of Morro Bay officials. A week after that, however, it closed for good. This reportedly happened when the DEA threatened to seize the property if Lynch's landlord did not evict his tenant. In August 2008, Lynch stood trial in federal court in Los Angeles. He was found guilty of five cannabis offenses. As noted above, he is due to be sentenced in Los Angeles on Monday. DEA critics, of which there are many, see the agency as one with members who are fond of making commando- style raids against people who pose little threat, such as those who cultivate and sell medical marijuana. While campaigning for president, Barack Obama announced his intentions to stop such raids. Still, the DEA raided four dispensaries in the Los Angeles area after the president took office. When I communicated with Lynch by phone and e-mail late Wednesday, shortly before he was leaving for Los Angeles, he seemed harried and at the end of his rope. Holder still had not announced his decision to end federal raids on medical marijuana facilities. It came later that day. Meanwhile, he has been living a nightmare. "My family posted a $400,000 bond on my behalf. My oldest brother, a nuclear engineer and manager of a nuclear power plant, put up $100,000 cash and $50,000 in investment property. My stepfather put up $70,000 of his commercial property in New Mexico. "My little brother, who died of cancer on Nov. 1, 2008, put up his home for $200,000 of the bail. The federal government continues to hold these bonds on my family's properties. "My mother has provided great emotional support and has been coming to California from New Mexico for all of my court hearings and holidays so I am not alone. My mother has no significant assets of her own. My sisters, my brothers and my family continue to support me to this day." Having lost one son in November, Lynch's mother, Bodine Jones, says, "I'm not going to stand by while they take another from me." Lynch is now the central figure in California's medical marijuana debate. TV's Al Roker and Drew Carey have reported on his case. Public rallies have been organized by supporters who believe government efforts to convict him have cost taxpayers more than a million dollars. He has earned praise even from the forewoman of the federal jury that found him guilty. "We all felt Mr. Lynch intended well," says Kitty Meese, a nurse from Torrance, "but under the parameters we were given for the federal law, we didn't have a choice." Policy change coming? As he awaited his court appearance for sentencing, Lynch told me this: "I feel like we are on the cusp of change. If there is a change of (federal) policy, then there is a real mess to clean up from previous administrations such as ending raids, ending prosecutions and freeing our brothers and sisters who are currently incarcerated in federal prisons for medical marijuana 'crimes."' He also said he plans to appeal his conviction and ask for a presidential pardon. Meanwhile, Thom Mrozek, of the U.S. Attorney's Office in Central California, has declined to comment on what will become of outstanding marijuana cases in the Los Angeles area. Statewide, more than two dozen such cases are pending in federal court, according to Kris Hermes of Americans for Safe Access, a national organization that advocates legal use of medical marijuana. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom