AUTHORITIES NOT GOING ALONG WITH MARIJUANA DISPENSARY PLAN

Joel Castle called Chico Police Chief Bruce Hagerty Thursday morning to
invite him to a meeting - about Chico's new marijuana cooperative and how
it would work.

Castle said the chief responded by saying what Castle was doing was illegal
- - and it was the chief's job to put him in jail.

Castle didn't seem to take the response personally.

"He's just a hired gun," he said.

But the man in the office behind a Fifth Street clothing store is in the
same pickle as thousands of area medical marijuana patients. In order to
get what the law says is their legal medicine, they do an underground drug
deal or become marijuana farmers. And many of them don't want to do that,
Castle said.

After the Thursday front page Enterprise-Record article on the Castle's
operation, people haven't had a lot of trouble finding the place. And
neither would the police.

Ron Mulkey, 44, of Chico, was at their door Thursday morning. He said he's
tired of hitching to Brownsville or getting ripped off in underground drug
deals to get what he was prescribed by a doctor in Cool for prostate cancer
and headaches.

"It's a bad scene," he said of his attempts to buy pot just steps away in
City Plaza. "There's people selling crank and coke. I understand why the
police are cracking down there - it's bad."

He came to the office with the word "marijuana" on the door because he read
the article and wanted "to do everything right." He said he was given a
form to fill out and told to return with his "215 card," a form of
identification that refers to the California proposition that made
marijuana legal medicine under certain specific circumstances.

"It's a good thing, what he's doing," Mulkey said of Castle. "There's not
enough people that care for others . It's about time Chico had something to
help people out."

Castle said the police chief should be helping him - even donating seized
pot to run what he hopes will become a local marijuana cooperative -
because it would make thousands of potential illegal drug deals disappear.

"Don't tell me Chico doesn't smoke pot," he said.

He said he's aware that running the small office, where he's also living
while waiting for an apartment to be ready, could get him years in prison.
But he and others in his situation have few choices but to break the law.

What does he expect to happen?

"I expect this most intelligent and progressive community to respond
positively," he said.

At present, supply is not a problem. Most of what he plans to give away is
currently growing, he said. But he also expects donations from locals who
have "too much."

In fact, he expects a deluge of support from what's also a political group
with a Web site, Americanvotes.com

He can also apparently expect arrest.

Capt. John Viegas said he talked to the police chief on how they plan to
deal with Castle.

Proposition 215 made marijuana legal under very restrictive circumstances,
Viegas explained, but giving it away and having more than allowed is still
illegal.

The local police follow District Attorney Mike Ramsey's guidelines, which
set out specifically how many plants are allowed for an individual
prescription and how much loose marijuana each patient can have.

"Unfortunately, the laws are such to keep people in check so we don't have
chaos out there," he said. "Prop. 215 changed the way the law was, but it's
very restrictive. You have to cultivate it for yourself."

He believed having seeds under the district attorney's limit for those with
a doctor's recommendation would be allowable locally.

How exactly the department would respond to what Castle's doing, he didn't
know.

"If he does distribute it, give it away, that's illegal," he said.

And nothing stops the federal government from coming in and arresting him
on a federal charge. That means local law enforcement agencies like the
Chico Police Department could call the feds in or ask BINTF (the Butte
Interagency Narcotics Task Force) to arrest him.

"There are no plans to do that at this point," he said.

But if Castle wants to change the law, he should lobby the Legislature.
What happens next depends on what's going on at Castle's office.

"If he is going to be furnishing or giving it away, we'd start a case
against him or call BINTF to start a case," he said. "We'd take the same
posture as the DA's office: The law prohibits such activity ... We're not
going to overlook it."

Vic Lacey, BINTF task force commander, said bluntly there's no way Castle
can even possess more than the limit for an individual or their caregiver
with a doctor's recommendation.

"You can't just open a dispensary or cannabis club for people who do (have
a recommendation). If the city of Chico even remotely considered" letting
Castle operate, the "entire city would look like City Plaza did a month
ago. You'd watch people smoke and sell and buy dope," he said.

The idea that marijuana was a good thing was just "a scam on the public."

In limited circumstances, like the advanced stages of cancer, marijuana
"has some soothing effects." But they "need to get the research community
to work on it more."

At this point, pot use under 215 is a problem.

"Everyone is able to get it. Kids have it," Lacey said. And he's known
people whose lives have become worthless because of it.

The public is sending the wrong message with a permissive attitude toward
marijuana. It fuels the lowering of community standards and leads to more
unproductive lives.

"We're telling them it's not that bad, but it is that bad. We're losing the
battle because of all these things," he said. "I'm just thankful we have a
police chief whose willing to take a stand on what the law says."

He wouldn't say if he planned to arrest Castle.

"But we will investigate him because of reports. If we substantiate he is
giving away, distributing or selling, he'll be investigated and charged
appropriately," Lacey said.