JEAN MARLOWE SUPPORTS MAN ARRESTED ON MARIJUANA CHARGES

Editor's note: The following is a letter written by Jean Marlowe in
support of Steve Marlowe, who was arrested on marijuana charges last Tuesday.

To the Editor:

I am writing on behalf of Steve Marlowe.

I am one of the patients for which Steve grows cannabis. The other
patient is an MS patient who is bedridden and cannot come to court,
but his mother and his specialist will be in court to testify to the jury.

I find it quite strange that the "reliable informant" the sheriff's
department used will cost the taxpayers of this county thousands of
dollars to settle the potential lawsuits from the unnecessary
destruction to Mr. Bailey's private property, the trauma to his
family and the abuse to Mr. McAbee, who was hit with a gun, knocked
out and had to spend the night in the hospital, courtesy of taxpayers.

The faulty warrants were executed at the same time, late at night,
involving numerous officers. These "keepers of the peace" went into
Mr. Bailey's home with guns drawn after he told them there was only a
woman, a two year old, a four year old and an eight year old in the house.

All of this came on the heels of the board of commissioners putting a
"freeze" on hiring and excessive spending by the sheriff's department.

The "reliable informant" wasn't so reliable. There were no large
amounts of marijuana, there were no tall marijuana plants, there were
no drying marijuana plants, there were no thousands of dollars in
cash; there were only lies and someone's medicine.

I know all citizens of our fair county do not remember the Superior
Court judge returning our grow equipment in 1997 and threatening a
county deputy with jail if it was not returned. He told Steve, in
open court, not to grow outside where the plants could be seen by
anyone. Several practicing attorneys and several judges, as well as
the sheriff and the county attorney, do remember, however.

The cannabis the sheriff's department took was never to see the
street. It was medicine for the winter months for sick and suffering
patients. These patients will now suffer severe pain due to lack of
their medicine during the worst and most painful time of the year.

When the case is over, we are going to work hard for legislation in
the state of North Carolina to protect patients and their care-givers
from prosecution and persecution.

We are going to fight this ridiculous nonsense yet again and yet
again we will prove that the people of this country do not want their
tax dollars spent to arrest and persecute someone for easing the
suffering of another. They do not want sick and suffering people nor
their care-givers treated like criminals. Fourteen states have now
passed laws to protect patients and their care-givers, let us hope
that North Carolina will do likewise soon and end this stupid and
needless waste of our tax dollars. Congress has passed the "Right To
Be Pain-Free Act" which provides some protection on a constitutional level.

We can have a federal expert witness to testify to the cultivation
amounts needed for each patient (this standard was adopted by
Washington state for its medical marijuana law). We can have a
patient who has received cannabis from the federal government for
medicine for 25 years to testify as well.

"Marijuana in its natural form, is one of the safest therapeutically
active substances known... It would be unreasonable, arbitrary and
capricious for the DEA to continue to stand between those sufferers
and the benefits of this substance," (quote from DEA Chief
Administrative Law Judge The Honorable Francis L. Young on cannabis
rescheduling, 1988).

The science is now available online from the scientists and
researchers who performed these studies. For more information go to
http://www.youtube.com/cannabistherapeutics or go to www.safeaccessnow.org.

The Bible teaches us to love one another and to care for each other,
to ease the suffering of our brothers and sisters here on this Earth,
to be good stewards of our planet, its wildlife and all of God's
creations. God is the Creator of the medicine that I use. Frankly, I
find it strange that anyone could have a problem with that fact, yet
it seems to upset so many other people that aren't even affected. I
hope that someday, everyone will be able to coexist without finding
fault with others and live in peace.

We will keep you informed. We are talking with friends and experts
around the country and planning our battle strategy.

Jean Marlowe