HILLSBORO MAN CLEARED OF FELONY DRUG CHARGES

HILLSBORO -- A Hillsboro man who is allowed to grow medical marijuana was
cleared of felony drug charges Friday.

Acting on a tip that Scott Leroy Gregerson was growing the drug, police
raided his home in September 2001. Before the raid, police checked with the
Oregon Department of Human Services to see whether Gregerson was authorized
to grow marijuana for medicinal purposes.

They were told he wasn't, which was wrong.

In the raid, police found Gregerson growing what they considered 11 plants.

Oregon is one of eight states where medical marijuana is legal. The state's
Medical Marijuana Act allows those who qualify to grow seven plants.

During the trial, Gregerson's attorney, Brian Michaels of Eugene, argued
that Gregerson had only three plants because eight were cuttings from other
plants. Gregerson had planted the cuttings, he said, to replace dying
plants.

Gregerson says he needs to smoke marijuana because it eases pain in his arm
from a car accident while allowing him to continue working as a floor
installer.

During closing arguments, Mitch Lampson, the Washington County deputy
district attorney prosecuting the case, told the jury the state knew
Gregerson's plants did not amount to a for-profit stash. But, he said,
Gregerson was operating outside the Medical Marijuana Act.

"We have to look at the statute the way it's written," he said.

Michaels said during his closing arguments that the state was trying to
convict his client on a technicality.

"Why are we here?" he asked the jury.

"I don't know," he answered.

Reached at home after the verdict, Gregerson said the decision renewed his
confidence in the justice system.

"I feel like American society does work, man, you know what I mean?" he
said.

Michaels said the state, after mistakenly telling police Gregerson did not
have permission to grow marijuana, compounded its error by wasting more
money prosecuting him. If authorities had convicted his client, Michaels
said, Gregerson would have been less likely to find work with a felony
conviction.

"We are spending money to deprive our economy of a valued worker," he said.
"Why are we doing that?"

Asked about the state's reason for prosecuting, Lampson said, "If you are
outside the rules, you are outside the rules."