HASHISH CASE BRINGS ISSUE TO FOREFRONT

Derived Drug's Place Unclear Under Medical Marijuana Statutes

The details concerning a Marion County grand jury's refusal to indict
a Keizer man for turning his medical marijuana into hash oil remain
secret by law, but the decision has rekindled the debate about
interpretations of Oregon's medical marijuana statutes.

Advocates of medical marijuana providers said some law enforcement
officials still have a hard time accepting legal medicinal users.

"It's still difficult for people to get used to the fact that it was
once someone they were putting in jail," said Brian Michaels, a
Eugene-area lawyer who is a member of the Oregon Medical Marijuana
Act advisory committee.

But prosecutors and law enforcement officers said that hashish is
illegal under federal controlled-substance guidelines, which Oregon
has adopted. Oregon's medical marijuana act allows for marijuana
derivatives, but hashish is considered a separate substance, said
Deputy District Attorney Courtland Geyer.

"It is classified as a separate drug under the federal Controlled
Substances Act," Geyer said. "And they are treated as separate drugs
in Oregon's entire network of drug laws."

Anthony Wyatt Beasley, 28, of Keizer was arrested Oct. 19 after
police were called to his home on a report of a possible bomb threat,
police said. Officers found PVC pipes filled with a concentration of
marijuana and police thought hashish was being made.

Beasley, a medical marijuana patient and provider, told police he was
extracting tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, from his medicinal marijuana.

Michaels thinks hashish is a compound of marijuana and should be
considered legal.

"It's become common to distinguish in the lexicon of our culture
marijuana -- bud and hashish -- but they're both represented under
marijuana," Michaels said.

While Beasley's case was dismissed this week, other cases in Marion
County regarding the use of hashish are pending, Geyer said.

Beasley's case initially drew attention because he was growing 24
plants in his backyard, which bordered a parking lot of McNary High
School.

Former Keizer City Council Charles Lee wrote a letter to Keizer City
Council, asking if it would consider an ordinance prohibiting medical
marijuana from being grown within a 1,000 feet of a school.

The outcome of Beasley's case did not affect his opinion, Lee
said.

"It's just the concept of safety and welfare of kids and keeping
those things within 1,000 feet of a school," Lee said.

Lee said he also talked with Marion County commissioners about
adopting a similar ordinance for the county.

Madeline Martinez, executive director of the marijuana advocacy group
Oregon NORML, said law enforcement officials should be trained about
understanding the legal interpretations of the law.

Martinez said she's offered to conduct training for law enforcement
officials and promotes continual education of medical marijuana providers.