Pubdate: Sun, 16 Aug 2015
Source: Santa Cruz Sentinel (CA)
Copyright: 2015 Santa Cruz Sentinel
Contact: http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/submitletters
Website: http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/394
Author: Calvin Men

AFTER RAIDS, CANNABIS COMMUNITY LOOK FOR ANSWERS

BOULDER CREEK - In the wake of raids of marijuana grows in the San 
Lorenzo Valley by Santa Cruz County's Marijuana Compliance Team, 
members of the cannabis community are questioning the validity of the actions.

After members of the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office Marijuana 
Compliance Team served 15 search warrants in Boulder Creek on 
Thursday, growers whose plants were taken complained to advocates the 
raids weren't done properly.

D'Angelo "Cricket" Roberto, a board member of Responsible Cultivation 
Santa Cruz, received several calls where growers said that officers 
did not tell some growers what ordinance was violated and did not 
identify specific parcels for individual warrants.

As a result, Roberto, who was not present for the search, and other 
members of the cannabis community are looking into how the warrants 
were executed.

Though the county Board of Supervisors voted to ban commercial pot 
growth in March - effectively limiting growth to 100-square-foot 
personal grows per parcel - the ban was repealed by the board Aug. 4. 
The repeal allows the growth of up to 99 plants on large parcels in 
rural parts of the county.

Roberto questioned whether the warrants for the raids took the 
changes into consideration. After the raids, Roberto and others 
received numerous calls from growers whose plants were confiscated by deputies.

Members of the Marijuana Compliance Team served 15 search warrants 
for illegal pot grows Thursday at homes on Moonrise Lane, sheriff's 
Lt. Kelly Kent said. The raids come in response to the team receiving 
complaints from neighbors about the grows. During the raid, members 
of the team confiscated 1,792 marijuana plants and seized two 
firearms, Kent said. No arrests were made and "all locations were 
brought into compliance with the county ordinance," Kent said.

On Friday, Kent declined to name the specific ordinance violated by 
growers but said the agency was confident in the warrants.

"There's a process in place for us during any warrant. It gets 
reviewed by the (Santa Cruz County) District Attorney's Office to 
make sure we're well within our rights and that we're following the 
law," Kent said.

The warrants are also reviewed by a judge to determine their 
validity, Kent said.

Roberto could not say whether all the grows were within compliance 
with the ordinance but said many of the grows with less than the 
99-plant limit. On Friday, Roberto along with other cannabis 
advocates conducted interviews with residents who had their marijuana 
plants confiscated by law officials during the raids. Advertisement

"The idea is to gather enough evidence to build the confidence in a 
lawyer that this is something we could pursue as a community to halt 
the raids that are taking place," Roberto said. "The idea is to make 
sure that they're going by proper procedure and following the correct law."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom