POLICE TO DRAFT POLICY FOR MARIJUANA GROWERS

David Means won't be going to jail. The West Seattle seizure patient
who was arrested for marijuana possession last May will even get his
pot-growing equipment back. And his bust is spurring an effort to
create new guidelines for police who encounter people growing
marijuana for medical purposes.

The Seattle Police Department has drafted proposed guidelines to help
officers identify qualified patients or caregivers and protect them
from arrest by recognizing "the spirit" of the state medical marijuana
law passed by voters last year, said Lt. Mike Sanford of the
department's vice and narcotics section.

They hope it will prevent a repeat of the Means case, which proved to
be embarrassing and awkward for both police and patient.

Acting on a complaint, Seattle police raided Means' home and arrested
him, even though his doctor had qualified him to use marijuana for
medical purposes. Under the law, such patients or their caregivers may
possess a 60-day supply of the drug.

Now, prosecutors have decided not to charge Means. Dan Satterberg,
chief of staff for the King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office, said
Means qualifies as a legitimate patient under the law. Police say they
will return growing equipment seized during the raid.

Means maintained that police entered his apartment without a warrant,
ignored the letter from his doctor qualifying him, ripped up his
marijuana plants, seized his growing equipment and trashed his home.

Means' physician, Dr. Frances Podrebarac, complained that his
carefully executed documentation was powerless to protect his patient
from arrest and intimidation.

Means lodged an internal complaint against the Police Department, and
a lawyer hovered with a potential lawsuit. The prosecutor's office
took months to review evidence.

The Means bust, said Leo Poort, legal adviser for the Seattle Police
Department, "made it clear that we needed a policy."

Though the law doesn't prevent police from arresting legitimate
patients, "You had to have some common-sense guidelines for
law-enforcement officers in the field," he said.

In other jurisdictions, there were more awkward cases, such as the
arrest in January of a blind AIDS patient and his mother in Tacoma
after police found three marijuana plants in their home. Pierce County
prosecutors declined to press charges.

Seattle's proposed guidelines, designed to avoid such situations, have
been circulated to the American Civil Liberties Union and other
interested parties.

The draft guidelines advise the officer to ask for documentation when
encountering a "grow" by someone claiming to be a medical marijuana
patient or caregiver. If the person appears to qualify under the law,
police are advised to document the grow through photographs, samples,
measurements and other means, rather than by confiscating plants
and/or growing equipment.

Means maintains that police destroyed plants, seeds and equipment
worth thousands of dollars. While police say they will return his
equipment, Sanford said he won't get back any marijuana.

The reason, he said, is partly a health concern: police storage
doesn't protect marijuana for future use. For example, he said the
leaves might have become moldy.

Sanford said he also has a problem sending an officer, sworn to uphold
federal, state and local laws, to deliver the marijuana, because the
act would technically violate federal laws against
distribution.

The draft guidelines specify that a patient's documentation should
include a statement signed by the patient's physician or a copy of the
pertinent medical record noting that his physician thinks benefits
from the patient's marijuana use likely outweigh the risks.

The police guidelines also call for documentation to define a "daily
personal medical use supply amount" for the patient, a requirement
that already has been criticized.

"That statement is wrong and inappropriate in these guidelines,
because it's telling police to look for something that isn't allowed,"
said Jerry Sheehan of the ACLU. Marijuana is still a federally
controlled substance, and doctors have been cautioned to be
particularly leery of appearing to "prescribe" it.

Dr. Rob Killian, a Seattle family physician who was a prime mover
behind the initiative that created the law, said asking doctors to
specify amounts could put them "at risk of federal censure."

The language was an attempt to address police difficulties with the
60-day supply noted in the law, Sanford said.

"One of the things we struggled with the most in drafting this is the
amount question," he said. Not only do patients vary in tolerance,
marijuana varies in potency. "We'll probably look at that, frankly,
case by case."

Sheehan said his organization is pleased that the police intend to
"deal with the law upfront."

However, he took exception to the draft's reference to the "spirit of
the law," which "implicitly allows qualifying patients to grow and use
limited quantities of marijuana." In fact, Sheehan said the law
explicitly allows that.

Sheehan also objected to a section requiring documentation to specify
that a patient suffers a terminal or debilitating illness as defined
by state law. He said that could require that doctors release private
medical information for police inspection.

For questionable situations, the guidelines call for officers to
contact the narcotics division for advice before confiscating
marijuana, Sanford said.

He said the Police Department also is considering allowing a person
who claims to be a qualifying patient to have a grace period to
produce the proper documentation.

The goal of the guidelines is to spare both police and patients wasted
time, embarrassment and frustration.

"The Police Department has no interest in seizing equipment or causing
grief to people who are sick. The patients have no interest in being
embarrassed and having to go get equipment back once it's been
seized," Sanford said.

Sanford hoped to get a final draft on Seattle Police Chief Norm
Stamper's desk by early next month.