Pubdate: Sun, 28 Jun 2009
Source: Spokesman-Review (Spokane, WA)
Copyright: 2009 The Spokesman-Review
Contact:  http://www.spokesmanreview.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/417
Author: Meghann M. Cuniff
Cited: SpoCannabis http://www.spocannabis.org/
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Marijuana - Medicinal)

POT'S LEGAL AMBIGUITY CLOUDS ENFORCEMENT

Medical Marijuana Law Comes With Slew of Concerns for Patients, Officers

A thief kicked in his door, ransacked his kitchen and stole his 
8-ounce marijuana stash. So the victim called police.

But the difference between this Spokane man's story and a classic 
stupid-criminal tale was a prescription card authorities say is 
easier to get in Spokane than ever.

The case, detailed in a search warrant filed this month in Spokane 
County District Court, illustrates the dichotomy forming between 
medicinal users of marijuana and law enforcement officers trained to 
track drug sales and arrest dealers.

"I'd never done a search warrant to try to get a guy his marijuana 
back before," said Spokane police Detective Brian Cestnik, who pulled 
phone records this month looking for a suspect. "But here's a guy 
saying 'Hey, I've got a valid prescription for this stuff and it was stolen.'"

Police dropped the case, Cestnik said, partly because the victim 
asked investigators not to contact suspects, which made it difficult 
to pursue. Nevertheless, "We're starting to see a lot of these 
home-invasion robberies," Cestnik said. "Obviously everyone knows who 
has (medical marijuana cards) now."

As more people obtain cards that allow them to possess up to a pound 
and a half of marijuana, police are faced with sorting the illegal 
from the legal, and determining if a legal user might be illegally selling.

"By and large, law enforcement officials outside of the Seattle area 
have not embraced medical marijuana laws with open arms," said lawyer 
and civil libertarian Pat Stiley, "even though ... the voters have 
decided to pull the sick and dying off of the battlefield of the war on drugs."

In May, the Kitsap County Sheriff's Office agreed to pay a medical 
marijuana patient $2,000 for destroyed grow lights after a jury 
acquitted him of charges that he grew more medical marijuana than the 
law allows.

Spokane police still seek out marijuana dealers, and search warrants 
show undercover officers often patrol hydroponic gardening stores 
looking for suspected marijuana growers.

"The truth is there are a lot of people who use the medical marijuana 
as strictly a cover to continue on with illegal drug dealing," said 
Spokane police Sgt. Tom Hendren of the drug investigation unit. "We 
attempt to do our best investigation to determine if people are 
actually in compliance."

One of the most difficult aspects for law enforcement and medical 
marijuana users alike is the ambiguity of state law. Left unexplained 
in the medical marijuana law approved by voters in 1998 and adjusted 
later by the state Legislature, for example, is how card-carrying 
medical marijuana patients can obtain their supplies.

Patients are limited to 15 plants and a pound and a half of fresh 
marijuana at a time, and caretakers are allowed to supply marijuana 
to one other person.

Nothing in the law addresses how that caretaker can legally obtain 
seeds to grow marijuana.

"They made it so somehow along the way, someone has to break the law 
in order for the law to work," said David Miller, attorney for Darren 
McCrea, founder of the medical marijuana support group SpoCannabis.

Police arrested McCrea for distribution of marijuana last summer, but 
no criminal charges have been filed.

Spokane County Deputy Prosecutor John Grasso handles most medical 
marijuana-related crimes. Police often consult him before pursuing a 
case, he said.

Grasso thinks dispensaries operating in Spokane, including Change, on 
Northwest Boulevard, are illegal because they provide marijuana to 
more than one person.

But it will take a police investigation to trigger prosecution, he said.

Stiley said police attitudes toward medical marijuana in Spokane have 
improved in the last few years.

But he predicted a short stay for pot shops.

"I think they're probably going to come to a rude awakening by law 
enforcement," Stiley said. 
- ---
MAP posted-by: Richard Lake