OFFICIALS WORRY OF HOLES IN LAW

However, Few People Caught With Marijuana Are Using The Medical Defenses.

If you grow seven marijuana plants for your sick friend, is it OK to grow
14 plants for two sick friends?

Probably not, law enforcement officials say, but vague wording in Oregon's
Medical Marijuana Act is causing headaches for police statewide.

"It's real difficult for officers to know what to do when it's 2 a.m. and
they stop somebody with a Baggie of dope in their glove compartment," Polk
County District Attorney John Fisher said.

It's been nearly a year since the Oregon Health Division issued its first
medical marijuana card. As of mid-April there were 525 registered patients
and about 275 caregivers allowed to grow and possess pot in Oregon, state
marijuana program manager Kelly Paige said.

"The caseload just keeps mounting," Paige said. As OHD's only employee
chronicling the growing list of medical marijuana users, Paige said she
struggles to answer increasing questions from would-be growers, police
officials and lawyers.

With a year's experience behind them, law enforcement officials say they're
still concerned people may take advantage of the law and that officers may
shy away from enforcement.

"This law was written by people whose goal is really to have free access to
marijuana," Marion County District Attorney Dale Penn said. "It's loosely
drafted and open to a lot of abuse."

People questioned by police and found to possess dried marijuana or as many
as seven plants have three defenses open to them under the 1998
voter-approved law.

People can hold a state card authorizing them to use and grow marijuana,
and they're off the hook. Or, they can have applied for a card but not
received it yet. In that case, they also are off the hook. Third, people
can say they don't have a card but still need marijuana to deal with pain,
nausea or appetite loss.

Despite widespread concerns, however, local law officials say they haven't
seen a lot of abuse yet.

Geoff Sugarman, director of Oregonians for Medical Rights, said the law is
working as well as he and other advocates predicted.

"While there are some people having problems getting it, overall the permit
system and the activities of both patients and caregivers and even the law
enforcement community for the most part has been exceptional," Sugarman said.

And what police officers may see as loopholes, Sugarman sees as safeguards
to ensure people in pain will find relief, he said.

Prosecutors are pleased to see that big-time illegal growers aren't covered
under the statute because it allows only seven plants. And those busted
with smaller operations haven't uniformly tried the medical excuse.

Only three out of about 100 Marion County residents caught with marijuana
in the past year asserted they had medical reasons to grow and use marijuana.

"Two of those people, it wasn't even close," Penn said. "They didn't have a
medical condition or something signed by a doctor."

One man was able to prove he had applied for a medical marijuana card. He
was not prosecuted for growing three massive 10-foot-tall pot plants.

"A lot of people don't realize the law is there yet. I'm sure as this goes
along we'll have more situations where people will utilize this defense,"
Penn said.

Law agencies were so concerned about vague wording in the original law that
they pushed the 1999 Legislature to make some amendments.

For example, law enforcement officials thought they'd have to maintain
marijuana plants while a case was prosecuted in the event they'd have to
return the plant to the patient.

"You can see the problems there," Oregon Attorney General spokesman Peter
Cogswell said. Police departments "couldn't just put it in the grow room."

Wording was changed in the law to address that concern, but police still
are careful not to confiscate marijuana without plenty of evidence.

It's still slightly unclear as to how much marijuana a caregiver can grow
if the caregiver has more than one state-registered patient. The law allows
for only seven plants per patient at one site, according to Cogswell's
interpretation, but it hasn't been challenged in court yet.

The big issue is the fact that it's still illegal to possess, grow or smoke
marijuana anywhere in the United States under superior federal law. That,
and continued local prosecution of obvious grow-for-sale operations, will
likely keep criminals from hiding behind the law.