MARIJUANA BUST IN ONTARIO YIELDS 38 PLANTS

ONTARIO -- A man featured in an article Sunday about his struggles with
marijuana laws was arrested Tuesday after narcotics officers found 38
pot plants at his home, police said.

Ontario police staked out the home of David Fawcett, 45, at 9 a.m.
Tuesday and pulled him over after he got into his pickup truck about two
hours later, said Ontario Police Detective Mike Macias.

Police came to Fawcett's residence in the 1100 block of East Bermuda
Dunes Street after speaking with San Bernardino County Probation
Department officials about their plans to search his home.

A search of his backyard turned up 35 pot plants ranging from 4 inches
to 4 1/2-feet-tall and three smaller plants in pots by Fawcett's pool,
Macias said.

Fawcett, who was on felony probation from a prior drug conviction, was
booked in West Valley Detention Center on suspicion of possessing
marijuana for sale and cultivating the drug.

Police began researching Fawcett's background after a front page article
about him appeared in the Daily Bulletin, Macias said.

Fawcett, who contacted the paper to be interviewed about his problems
with marijuana laws, was featured in a story about a recent U.S. Supreme
Court ruling striking down the medical necessity defense for marijuana
use in federal proceedings.

Fawcett said he uses marijuana to ease the pain he suffers from having
shingles, a viral disease that results in periodic blisters along the
nerve paths.

"He did present a form letter from a doctor's office in Cool, Calif.
that had his name and that he was authorized to use marijuana for
medicinal purposes, but they forgot to put the illness on the letter,"
Macias said.

However, police said that such forms can easily be obtained for a
nominal fee. The marijuana magazine "High Times" has advertisements for
formal-looking documents that "authorize" people to use marijuana for
medical purposes, he said.

Ontario detectives who researched Fawcett's background discovered he was
on felony probation for a marijuana cultivation conviction, Macias said.
According to reports, San Bernardino County sheriff's deputies in
October 1999 seized two shotguns, a .22-caliber rifle a .30-06-caliber
rifle, a 9 mm handgun and a .44 Magnum handgun in addition to pot plants
from Fawcett's home, Macias said.

Under his probation terms, law enforcement were authorized to search
Fawcett and his home at any time.