HAMBURG POT CHARGES DROPPED, FOR NOW

UKIAH - A Mendocino County judge has dropped marijuana cultivation
charges against Laura Hamburg, a local activist who helped ban
genetically modified crops from the county and is currently battling a
backlash against marijuana cultivation.

"I feel elated," Hamburg said Friday.

But she said she remains worried because the Mendocino County District
Attorney's Office is considering challenging an earlier ruling that
led to the dismissal.

"I feel like I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop," Hamburg
said.

Judge Ron Brown dismissed the charges against Hamburg Thursday, two
weeks after another judge quashed evidence found during a search of
the Hamburg family compound near Ukiah.

The property is owned by Hamburg's parents, former Rep. Dan Hamburg
and his wife, Carrie.

The search warrant and evidence obtained through it were nullified
because officers' sworn statements in support of the search warrant
failed to mention that Hamburg had provided officers with
documentation that she was growing for several medical marijuana
patients, including herself.

It's at least the second pot-related case to be dropped in the past
month because judges found fault with a search warrant.

A case against Angela Pinches, daughter of Supervisor John Pinches,
was dismissed last month because the judge determined officers had
invaded private space around her Redwood Valley home in order to
determine whether marijuana was being grown there last year.

Law enforcement officials said they believe a former boyfriend was
responsible for the marijuana.

Hamburg said she grows marijuana for medicinal purposes for four
people: herself, her sister, her mother and a neighbor.

Hamburg's attorney, former prosecutor Keith Faulder, accused law
enforcement of misleading the judge who signed the search warrant.

He and Hamburg also claim officers exaggerated the amount of marijuana
found in her garden and home.

Law enforcement officials said they found at least 50 plants, more
than 50 pounds of processed marijuana and $10,000 cash after serving
the search warrant on Hamburg's home.

"It was nowhere close to that," Hamburg said.

She said Faulder has advised her not to discuss marijuana quantities
or other specifics of her case because criminal charges could be refiled.

Deputy District Attorney Brian Newman said he has until March 24 to
refile charges.

At the time of last year's raid on Hamburg's home, county medical
marijuana guidelines allowed 25 plants to be grown for each medical
marijuana patient and for each to possess 2 pounds of processed marijuana.

The allowable number of plants was changed this year to 25 plants per
parcel, regardless of the number of patients living on that parcel, in
response to growing discontent over widescale pot production in the
county.

Hamburg said the raid on her home was terrifying. She said if it could
happen to her, "it could happen to anybody," and that's what prompted
her to join in the fight against Measure B.

Measure B seeks to rescind Measure G, a local voter-approved measure
that decriminalized personal marijuana use in the county and made
marijuana cases a low priority for prosecution.

Measure B proponents say Mendocino County's lenient stance on
marijuana is attracting crime, creating neighborhood nuisances,
causing environmental pollution and supporting the illicit, dangerous
underground marijuana industry that has nothing to do with medicine.

Hamburg said she understands the frustration of Measure B proponents,
but that overturning Measure G is not the answer.

"Measure G is here to protect the residents," not the large-scale
commercial growers, she said.