FORMER DRUG OFFICER DENIES DEFENSE LETTER LED TO POT RAID

A former drug officer testified Friday that he ignored a letter indicating
the location of various medical marijuana gardens in Sonoma County.

He said the letter played no part in a raid at the home of Alan MacFarlane,
the first person to mount a medical defense to marijuana charges in Sonoma
County.

Sheriff's Detective Sgt. Steve Brown acknowledged that the letter from an
attorney representing medical marijuana users indicated "they're trying to
tell me they're doing it legally."

Brown said he discussed the letter with fellow narcotics officers, but
decided to do "absolutely nothing" with it, including investigating any of
the people on the list.

"I remember reading it and eventually throwing it away. I had no idea about
a case against Mr. MacFarlane," he said. "I threw it away, because we're
not targeting them."

MacFarlane, 47, whose west Santa Rosa home was raided twice the next year
by the narcotics task force, is on trial for cultivating marijuana.

Although voters approved the use of medical marijuana in 1996, the ballot
initiative did not address the amount individuals can use or the number of
plants they can grow.

Members of the narcotics task force have testified that a neighbor of
MacFarlane's reported he was growing marijuana and his arrest had no
connection to the letter. The task force confiscated 109 plants from his home.

Prosecutors say MacFarlane took advantage of the medical marijuana law to
grow much more than he needed.

The defense said the letter MacFarlane's attorney sent to deputies before
his arrest shows he wanted to comply with the law.

"No one would invite investigation by law enforcement, unless they felt
what they were doing was legal," defense attorney Sandy Feinland said.

According to court testimony, MacFarlane uses marijuana for chronic pain
and other side effects associated with treatment he underwent for thyroid
cancer 25 years ago. He still sees an oncologist regularly, who gave him
approval to use marijuana.

In addition to the marijuana cultivation charges, MacFarlane also is
charged with possession of hallucinogenic mushrooms.

On Friday, a criminalist with the state Department of Justice testified
that he tested a sample of the mushrooms and determined they contained a
useable amount of psilocyn, the hallucinogenic ingredient.

When the defense attorneys sent a sample to another lab they said tests
showed no presence of any illegal substance.

MacFarlane's defense attorneys say he had a vegetable garden and the
mushrooms are commonly found in some back yards.