CASE TESTS LIMITS OF MEDICAL MARIJUANA LAW

SR Man Challenging Charges He Was Growing More Pot Than Was Necessary For
Treatment

For the first time in Sonoma County, a jury will try to resolve how many
plants a medical marijuana user may grow.

A Santa Rosa man, twice arrested on suspicion of felony pot cultivation, is
challenging charges that he was growing more pot than necessary for his
medical needs.

Jury selection is set to start Tuesday in what lawyers say is not only a
first in Sonoma County, but one of only a few medical marijuana cases in
the state to go to trial.

California counties have differing guidelines for the number of plants
patients can grow under a 1996 initiative allowing the medicinal use of
marijuana. Some jurisdictions, such as Oakland, allow as many as 96 plants.

Most counties allow between four and 10 plants, although some counties --
including Sonoma -- have no specified number and decide on a case-by-case
basis what is appropriate.

Alan MacFarlane, 47, of Santa Rosa and his lawyers say the 72 plants he was
arrested for the first time and the 36 plants that deputies uprooted in a
second raid were not an unreasonable amount for personal use, considering
that some plants do not grow to maturity, or yield much.

"There's no guidance whatsoever," said MacFarlane's attorney, Sandy
Feinland. "That's what makes it so hard for patients. The problem is there
are no guidelines for how much to grow. You're at the mercy of whatever
officer shows up at your door."

MacFarlane, a disabled Vietnam era veteran, is recovering from thyroid
cancer and said he uses marijuana to alleviate chronic pain and nausea.

Sonoma County District Attorney Mike Mullins has been criticized for
prosecuting some ill medical marijuana users, but he blames the initiative,
saying it was poorly crafted and omitted specifics about the amount
patients can use, where they should get it, and how they should obtain a
physician's approval.

Prosecutor Carla Claeys said, "No doctor I know of knows what a person
needs -- what the appropriate dosage amount is."

MacFarlane, who was first arrested in May 1999 and again in August of the
same year, was offered a deal by prosecutors to settle the case if he would
plead guilty to misdemeanor possession of more than an ounce of marijuana.
But he has steadfastly refused.

He said Friday that if convicted, he would not be able to grow any
marijuana for himself.

"I'm fighting for the ability to take care of my medical needs and be
unmolested at home."

In addition to the marijuana charges, MacFarlane also faces a felony charge
of possessing hallucinogenic mushrooms.

His attorneys say they were common mushrooms found in many back yards and
MacFarlane didn't have any knowledge they contained anything illegal.

Although MacFarlane is risking a felony conviction and a potential prison
sentence by going to trial, co-defense attorney Steve Spiegelman said
medical marijuana users are hoping for the best.

"A lot of sick people in this county are counting on this case to relieve
the situation, so other people don't go through what Alan went through," he
said.

During pre-trial motions Friday afternoon, Feinland told Judge Robert Boyd
that MacFarlane decided to grow marijuana plants in his west Santa Rosa
home in 1998 and even wrote a letter to the Sheriff's Department alerting
them that he had medical approval to do so.

MacFarlane claims a sheriff's detective called him back and told him it was
all right to grow the plants, something the prosecution disputes.

After a neighbor reported the plants to law enforcement, sheriff's deputies
uprooted all of them in May 1999 after obtaining a search warrant.

They came back and did the same thing in August after MacFarlane planted more.

Police say that in a conversation with MacFarlane's doctor he withdrew his
approval of marijuana for MacFarlane, but the defense said the doctor
disagrees.