ANOTHER BRUSH WITH THE LAW

Randy Brush got some solid whiffs of what ails America in recent
years, after serving nearly a year of a three-year prison sentence for
getting caught growing four marijuana plants on the roof of his rural
Wellsville home ("Just What the Doctor Ordered," Jan. 24, 2007). The
middle-aged, now-divorced father of three teens was adamant: He was
using the home pharmacy to calm the effects of a multitude of medical
ailments and pharmaceutical side-effects: Arthritis. High blood
pressure. Depression. And on...

But try telling that, then or now, to Republican Judge C. Ashley Pike
of Columbiana County, who openly called Brush a lowlife in court for
quixotically assuming the medical cannabis defense and attracting so
many potheads to the courthouse.

At the time, Brush blamed his then-wife for tipping off the
authorities. He's not sure who's responsible this time for why the DEA
rammed through the doors of his new Columbiana County apartment on May
28 with a fresh search warrant from Pike, more than a year after he
was released from a halfway house in Cleveland.

"They got me down and handcuffed me and were screaming, "Where is it?
Where is it?' and I was like, "I'm not helping you out this time
around, guys,'" the 48-year-old recalled via phone Monday while
enjoying a camping trip with two of his three kids. "I had two plants
but I destroyed them before they could get to them."

In all, Brush estimates the feds found "not even an ounce" for their
troubles - a weight he believes will prevent a grand jury from levying
new felony charges. That doesn't mean he doesn't fear the worst.

"This county is ruled by Republicans," Brush says. "[Pike] was angry I
got out early. He wanted me sitting in jail. But if I go to court
again, I promise a show. I won't pay a fine or court costs or
anything. I'll go to jail. It doesn't bother me. I'm going to have
them wheel me everywhere I have to go, too [due to arthritis]. You
know how much I'll cost them?"

Brush says his medical conditions cost the state as much as $250,000
for his 10 months of incarceration, including an appendectomy that was
long-overlooked because medical staff didn't believe his complaints of
lingering pain.

"I'm just doing what I can to live," he says, "and I don't think most
people would want the law devoting these kinds of resources for
something like this. ... I'm sure they're going to try to throw the
book at me, but punishing people who are sick for trying to do
something to help themselves - that's going to make them look worse
than me."