OWNER OF POT-CANDY FACTORY SURRENDERS ON FEDERAL DRUG CHARGES

Oakland -- The owner of an Oakland marijuana candy factory
surrendered Thursday to face federal drug charges, but not before
blasting the U.S. government for what he called an unfair attack by
federal bullies on ailing patients who rely on medical marijuana.

He was later released on a $300,000 bond.

Michael Martin, 33, of El Sobrante was one of four people charged
last week in connection with Tainted Inc., which started as a
boutique business that made chocolate truffles and grew into a large
marijuana-candy maker that bought chocolate by the ton, authorities said.

"I believe truly in my heart that I have done nothing wrong," Martin
said outside the Oakland Federal Building. He was joined by his wife,
Elinor, their sons, 3-year-old Tyler and 5-month-old Lucas, and
supporters who held signs reading, "DEA: Keep your hands out of the
medical marijuana cookie jar."

Martin, his attorney Sara Zalkin and J. Tony Serra, the famed lawyer
who also supports medical marijuana, then left for the Federal
Building in San Francisco because the magistrate in Oakland was
unavailable. U.S. Magistrate Nandor Vadas released Martin on bond.

Martin said he joined the medical-marijuana movement after seeing his
father die painfully of prostate cancer in 2002 after a 10-year
battle. His father refused to use marijuana because of a federal ban
on all types of the drug. Martin said he uses medical marijuana to
ease pain after a fall left him with seven screws and a steel plate
in his left heel. He said he also has degenerative cartilage in his right knee.

Three Tainted employees were arrested by federal Drug Enforcement
Administration agents last week, but Martin was a fugitive, federal
prosecutors said.

Martin disputed that assertion, saying that he had simply been on
vacation with his family at the time his factory on 61st Street in
North Oakland and the defendants' homes were raided. During one
arrest, an agent shot and paralyzed a Doberman pinscher named Doobie,
supporters said. The incident is under DEA investigation.

Authorities said Tainted made candies with names that played off
popular legal treats: Buddafinga, Mr. Greenbud, Stoners. The business
also made other pot-laced items such as cookies, ice cream, peanut
butter, granola bars and even barbecue sauce, according to the DEA.

The investigation bears similarities to DEA raids in Oakland last
year in which five people connected with a company called Beyond Bomb
were convicted of making marijuana-laced treats with names like
Munchy Way, Rasta Reece's and Puff-a-Mint Pattie.

In federal marijuana cases, defense attorneys are barred from telling
jurors that companies supply medical cannabis products through
licensed dispensaries to qualified patients. Proposition 215, the
initiative approved in 1996 by state voters, legalized growing and
using marijuana for medical purposes with a doctor's recommendation.
Under federal law, marijuana used for any purpose is illegal.

Over the past two years, Tainted bought nearly 4 tons of chocolate
from Guittard Chocolate Co. in Burlingame for more than $14,000,
Armstrong wrote. Tainted's candies and other food items sold for
$2.50 to $20 apiece, depending on the strength of the product,
authorities said.

Martin; Tainted's operations manager Jessica Sanders, 30, of San
Leandro, and couriers Michael Anderson, 42, of Oakland and Diallo
McLinn, 35, of Oakland, were charged with conspiracy to manufacture
or distribute controlled substances.

Sanders, Anderson and McLinn are free on $200,000 bond. All four
defendants are due back in U.S. District Court in Oakland on Oct. 26.