POT RAID ANGERS MEDICAL-MARIJUANA SUPPORTER

Seattle Police Tuesday Raided a University District Office Used by
Medical-Marijuana Patients, but the Operator Says He Has Been
Following State Law and the Authorities Were Overzealous.

Martin Martinez says his U District office was a mess after police
searched it Tuesday afternoon, seizing marijuana and patient records.

Martin Martinez says the small, private collective and outreach group
he runs from a University District storefront are legal, a place for
medical-marijuana patients to get help growing the medicine they need
to manage their pain.

One of the earliest advocates for what became a voter-approved state
medical-marijuana law 10 years ago, Martinez says he hasn't handed
out pot, nor grown any in his cramped office on Northeast 50th Street
just off University Way Northeast.

But Tuesday afternoon, Seattle police, armed with a search warrant,
carted away marijuana and hundreds of private patient files, and tore
down a wall in search of a marijuana patch that didn't exist.

King County prosecutors say the raid was justified. Martinez's
neighbors have been complaining about a pervasive smell of pot, they
said, so authorities need to figure out whether Martinez has been
breaking the law.

But the episode has Martinez frustrated and his attorney furious.
They accuse the police and prosecutors of being overzealous and
refusing to honor the law that is supposed to let sick people use pot
in peace. At a minimum, Martinez says, the authorities should let the
whole thing blow over - and return his stuff.

"We're trying desperately to be legal, to stay alive and not have
these conflicts," Martinez said. "Science and law have to come to
terms, because the doctors are recommending cannabis and the police
have got to get on the same page."

Martinez, 48, suffered severe neurological damage in a motorcycle
accident in 1986. He later became one of the first people in King
County to use medical necessity as a defense against prosecution for
using marijuana.

In 1998, he helped promote the medical-marijuana initiative that
voters approved overwhelmingly. It allows people with certain serious
ailments to use marijuana if authorized by a physician.

For the past four years or so, he has operated Lifevine - a private
collective of patients who work together to grow their own medical
marijuana - and Cascadia NORML, a public-outreach organization that
provides ID cards to medical-marijuana patients so they can show
police that they have a legal right. He said the groups used three
different locations in the U District on Northeast 55th Street and
never had any problems.

In June, Martinez moved into the storefront on Northeast 50th Street.

One nearby business owner, who asked that her name not be published
because she's concerned someone might retaliate, said the building
immediately filled with the smell of pot. She said she hoped "the
problem would just go away," but it didn't. So she and other
neighbors complained to police.

Tuesday afternoon, Seattle police bicycle officers entered Martinez's
office after smelling pot in various parts of the building. They
called for backup and called prosecutors to obtain a search warrant.

According to Martinez, the police seized 12 ounces of marijuana buds
and a large container of the less-potent leaf called "shake," which
belonged to him and four other patients who happened to be there. And
the police took 500 confidential patient files containing people's
medical records and medical-marijuana prescriptions, Martinez said.

Martinez said one officer became convinced that Martinez was growing
a garden in a secret room, so he ripped down part of a wall.

No plants were found. Martinez wasn't arrested. No charges have been filed.

"I'm just hopping mad," said Douglas Hiatt, Martinez's attorney, who
arrived at the office during the search and called a deputy
prosecutor to try to talk her out of executing the warrant. "It's
stupid and was totally preventable."

Hiatt said Martinez is "super responsible" and makes sure he follows
the letter of the law.

"I'd like for them to give him his stuff back and compensate him for
anything they broke," Hiatt said. "If they decide to go forward with
this [and file charges], we're going to have a real fight."

But Mark Larson, the chief criminal deputy for the King County
Prosecutor's Office, said an investigation is warranted to determine
whether Martinez was operating within the bounds of the state law.

"We're certainly aware people have a right to use medical marijuana,"
Larson said. "But that doesn't include dispensing, and it doesn't
include possessing unlimited quantities."

State laws don't specify legal amounts or ways medical marijuana can
be dispensed to others, he said. The state Legislature last year
ordered the Health Department to establish maximum amounts each
patient may possess, but the department's proposals are still being debated.

"We'd love to have these issues clarified so that people who need it
get it, and people who operate outside the rules risk prosecution,"
Larson said.

The business owner who complained about the smell said she didn't
know until after Tuesday's bust that Martinez's office was being used
by medical-marijuana patients.

The woman said she's highly allergic to marijuana and suffered
headaches and dizziness. She said the smell was warding away some of
her customers.

She said she suspected someone was growing pot in the three-story
building, which houses a mix of businesses and apartments.

"It sucks they are sick and that they have to take medical marijuana
- - I wouldn't wish that on anyone," she said. "But it sucks that
they're affecting an entire building."

Martinez said Wednesday that he had no idea the smell was so
pervasive. "I'm really sorry. We didn't want to bother anyone. We're
a very private group, which is why it doesn't say 'medical marijuana'
on the door.

"We've tried to keep to ourselves."