MEDICAL MARIJUANA ADVOCATE AVOIDS JAIL

A Las Vegas medical marijuana advocate who could have gone to prison
for growing a crop of the weed inside his home was instead given
three years of probation under a suspended sentence Thursday.

Pierre Werner, 35, who said he is licensed by the state to use
marijuana to assuage his bipolar disorder, said he was growing pot
for some 50 other medical marijuana users.

In the middle of his trial in August, he changed his plea to guilty
to one count of possession of a controlled substance in exchange for
prosecutors dropping an additional count of the same charge.

The Department of Parole and Probation had recommended a prison
sentence of one to four years for Werner. He has a prior criminal
record; in 2000, he was convicted in New Jersey of possessing and
distributing a controlled substance, prosecutor Roy Nelson said.

In court Werner said he has been receiving Social Security and
disability benefits for the last two years, and Nelson pointed out
that the defendant has been unemployed for the last 12 months.

"He is nothing more than a glorified drug dealer," Nelson said.

According to Werner's Myspace page, his income is $150,000 to $250,000 a year.

Nelson said the state has no evidence Werner supplied pot to anyone
without a medical marijuana license. He said he thinks there is a
place for medical marijuana in this state but said Werner was clearly
violating the law and flaunting it in front of law enforcement.

In explaining her decision to give Werner probation, District Judge
Valerie Adair told the defendant, "Right now I'm going to believe
that the people you sold to were people who really needed it, but you
don't get to decide that anymore."

Adair told him he was getting a break, and she said she didn't
believe he should serve time. But, she warned, if his parole officer
finds him in violation of any state laws, she will send him to prison.

After the sentencing, Werner said he plans to comply with Nevada laws.

State law allows each licensed marijuana patient to keep an ounce of
pot on hand. The patient or an appointed caretaker can grow seven
plants, but only three can be mature. The licensed medical marijuana
patient cannot supply others and a caregiver can only supply
marijuana to one patient.

Werner's sentence Thursday was for authorities' 2004 discovery of 34
mature marijuana plants, 11 immature marijuana plants (with no
observable buds or flowers), and more than two ounces of marijuana
leaves at Werner's home.

"I was trying to send a message to the government: Get out of my
medicine cabinet," Werner said outside the courtroom before his sentencing.

Werner said he has dual residency in California and Nevada and
recently opened a medical marijuana store in Southern California,
where medical marijuana laws are more lax. He said that when he told
the probation department about the operation, that was when officials
recommended he be sent to prison as a part of the plea deal.

"They're treating me like a common criminal," he complained before the hearing.

Afterward, he said plans to close and sell his cannabis shop in
Southern California.

He was unhappy that his sentence prohibits him from going to
Amsterdam. He wanted to move to the Netherlands because possession of
marijuana is legal there and it can be purchased in coffee shops.

Adair said Werner would be too difficult to supervise abroad. She
acknowledged there are problems, "a Catch 22," with the state's
medical marijuana law, which makes it difficult for some of the most
debilitated patients to obtain marijuana. But, she said, Werner must
learn to battle the state's laws through legal channels.

Werner has argued there is no safe, reliable place medical marijuana
patients can go to get their medication unless they grow it or buy it
off the street, which can be difficult for frailer patients. He said
he ought to be able obtain his "medicine" at local drug stores, but
can't and that's why he reluctantly grew his own.

"It's a lot work. I don't want to grow my own plants anymore," he said.

He has a lawsuit pending against the state Department of Agriculture,
which regulates medical marijuana, regarding his rights to operate a
medical marijuana store in Clark County. He said he made a mistake
trying to challenge the law with a criminal case and plans to
continue with his civil one.

Ed Foster, spokesman for the state's Department of Agriculture,
acknowledged there are problems with the law but until state statute
changes there is little the department can do.

"We see the flaws and we know this isn't the perfect program but the
program is what it is," he said. "We can only operate the program
under state statute, which is exactly what we're doing."

A ballot initiative that called for adults to be able to legally
possess up to an ounce of marijuana each was rejected by 56 percent
of Nevada voters in Tuesday's election.