FEDERAL COURT TO HEAR POT ACTIVIST CASE

Merced Man, Busted In 2004, With More Than 1,000 Plants

A Merced marijuana activist jailed on federal drug charges in August
will see his case go to U.S. District Court in Fresno today.

Dustin Costa's attorney, Robert Rainwater, will challenge the
validity of a search warrant authorities used in a February 2004 pot
bust that netted more than 1,000 plants.

An evidentiary hearing is scheduled for today at 2 p.m. at 2500
Tulare St. in Fresno. The motion will go before District Court Judge
Anthony W. Ishii in courtroom 2.

After an18-month legal battle in Merced County Superior Court,
Costa's case was forwarded to federal court last summer.

In November 1996, California voters approved Proposition 215, the
Compassionate Use Act, which gives ill people the right to use
marijuana for medicinal purposes when deemed appropriate by a doctor.

But in federal court a medical marijuana defense isn't clear cut.

A three-count indictment charges Costa with growing more than 100
marijuana plants, equivalent to nearly nine pounds, in Feb. 2004 with
the intent to distribute.

He also faces a charge of possession of a firearm "in furtherance of
drug trafficking crime."

Costa, who goes by the nickname "Rev. D.C. Greenhouse," is president
of the Merced Patients Group, a private cannabis club in Merced that
claims 230 members.

To join the club, members pledged to become politically active and be
named in a lawsuit.

In June, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the federal government can
prosecute people who use marijuana for medicinal purposes.

However, State Attorney General Bill Lockyer has said the ruling
doesn't overturn California's medical marijuana law.

Costa's case underscores lingering contradictions between federal
drug laws and voter-approved measures.

At his arraignment in August, medical marijuana activists came from
Merced, Sacramento, Los Angeles, San Diego and elsewhere to lend their support.

Prosecutors, meanwhile, are dismissing Costa as a drug dealer hiding
behind the state's medical marijuana laws.

If convicted, he faces a maximum of 45 years in prison for the drug
and weapons charges.