ACQUITTAL DOESN'T EASE GROWER'S FEARS

Petaluma man says risk of arrest will keep him from cultivating marijuana,
at least in Sonoma County.

The day after a jury found that Kenneth Hayes legitimately provided medical
marijuana, he was back tending chickens, turkeys, ducks and a calf on the
Petaluma ranch where he once raised hundreds of marijuana plants.

Yet Hayes said vindication doesn't ease his fears of another arrest and
prosecution if he resumed growing marijuana.

"I probably am not going to resume growing in this county. It is
unfortunate," he said. "However, I think I made my point that you can grow
medical marijuana anywhere in the state for the sick and the dying."

Hayes said he continues to operate a San Francisco marijuana buyers club
that also does social work in the neighborhood around the club.

Medical marijuana advocates said the acquittal Wednesday of Hayes and
Michael S. Foley, who helped Hayes before moving to San Francisco, means
caregivers exempted under California's medical marijuana law include people
who grow marijuana for a number of people.

Hayes said he was growing marijuana for the 1,280-member San Francisco
buyers club when the county's drug task force raided his rented ranch in
May 1999 and arrested him.

Authorities seized about 600 plants growing in six greenhouses, 115 younger
plants growing under fluorescent lights in a barn, and more than 180
seedlings inside Hayes' home.

Prosecutors contended Hayes was dealing drugs and presented the jury with
transaction records seized from Hayes' home.

"The reason for cultivating it in the first place was to lower the cost of
the medicine so patients could get it at a lower reimbursement. Secondly,
we could grow a higher-quality medicine," Hayes said.

All that remains, however, are the home and barn. Hayes removed the
greenhouses, growing lights and other cultivating equipment.

Farm animals roam where the greenhouses stood.

Hayes, 33, lives with his girlfriend, Cheryl Sequeira, and their 2-year-old
daughter on the ranch.

If Hayes did resume growing marijuana on the ranch, the one thing he would
do differently is keep better written records. Hayes said he would document
what he spent to develop and maintain the operation so he could show how
money people paid for his product covered his actual costs and did not
provide profits.

"However, being where I'm at, where there's still cowboy cops and a rogue
D.A., I don't feel comfortable cultivating cannabis for the sick and dying
and needy," he said.

District Attorney Mike Mullins and local law enforcement leaders say the
medical marijuana law is vague. They say they have pursued cases to test
the bounds of the law while waiting for the state to establish guidelines.

Hayes, who uses marijuana for a debilitating hip condition, said he might
grow it in Mendocino County.

But he also said a buyers club he started in San Francisco, the Harm
Reduction Center, currently gets enough marijuana from members who grow it
to meet member demands.

When he was arrested, Hayes was associated with another San Francisco club.
Hayes said he did grow marijuana for that club, Cannabis Helping Alleviate
Medical Problems.

Harm Reduction Center operated out of a storefront of a residential hotel
in the South of Market area of San Francisco until a recent fire severely
damaged the building.

Hayes said he has moved into a new space nearby.

In addition to providing marijuana to buyers with medical needs, the club
does community outreach, including weekly dinners and peer counseling, and
runs a computer skills cafe.

Foley runs the buyers club Cannabis Helping Californians, also in San
Francisco.