AIDS PATIENT WHO GREW POT IN BE CHARGED

Da Hallinan Had Criticized His Arrest But Office Says Man Sold Beyond Clubs

District Attorney Terence Hallinan, a leading law enforcement supporter of
medicinal marijuana, will prosecute an AIDS patient who grew pot as
medicine, a spokesman said Friday.

Victor Thomas Evans, 36, is expected to be charged next week with felony
counts of marijuana cultivation and possession for sale, district attorney
spokesman John Shanley said.

Hallinan is an outspoken proponent of the medicinal benefits of pot, of
notforprofit enterprises that supply marijuana to the infirm, and of
voterpassed Proposition 215, which allows physician prescribed use of the
weed. He initially criticized Evans' arrest by San Francisco narcotics
officers.

However, prosecutors have since come to the conclusion that the evidence
taken from Evans' home pointed to his growing marijuana for profit.

"We do know he had a legitimate relationship with a club (that provides pot
to sick people) and had a legitimate reason to grow it for his own uses,"
Shanley said.

But, he added, "We could not account for all the money that was seized as
having come from his dealings with legitimate clubs."

Working on a tip from a retired federal judge living in the neighborhood,
police arrested Evans on Sept 22 after obtaining a warrant from Hallinan to
search his Ingleside home.

Police seized 41 marijuana plants from a hydroponic growth lab and $15,000.

Sharp Words For Police

At the time, Hallinan had sharp words for police, because, he said,
officers did not inform him in advance that Evans has AIDS.

"I'm upset about this," Hallinan told The Examiner the night of the arrest.
"I'm upset that no one conferred with me about this thing. I'm here
begging the feds not to bring a case (against a local marijuana buyer's
club), and our narcotics squad is out there doing this."

Reached by telephone Friday at the Flower Therapy Club, a cultivators
center on 17th Street where he works, Evans said all the pot he grew was
for himself or others who use it for lawful medical reasons.

"We were under the impression that what I was doing was legal," he said.
Criminal defense lawyer Randy Daar said he went to unusual lengths to
convince the district attorney not to prosecute Evans. But Daar heard from
prosecutors Friday that the case would proceed. Daar said Evans turned
over documents and made himself available to investigators for an interview.

"We made a goodfaith effort," he said. "I think the DA is genuinely
grappling with the legal issues."

Important Test Case

Both sides agreed that the prosecution of Evans could become an important
Prop. 215 test case. The 1996 ballot initiative allows growing and
possessing marijuana if it is recommended by a doctor for treatment of
symptoms of AIDS, cancer, arthritis, glaucoma, migraine or other conditions.

But the courts are at odds over how medicinal marijuana may be distributed.

In January, Superior Court Judge David Garcia vacated a preProp. 215
injunction that state Attorney General Dan Lungren obtained against San
Francisco's Cannabis Buyers Club. Garcia ruled that the club could supply
pot if the business is designated as a "primary caregiver" by buyers.

Last week, a divided state Court of Appeal panel reversed Garcia's ruling
saying that buyers clubs don't qualify as primary caregivers, which the
panel defined as someone "who has consistently assumed responsibility for
the housing, health or safety of that person."

Dairy said Evans' case could test "to what extent Prop. 215 allows someone
to get paid to supply medicinal marijuana for legitimate use."

Said Shinney: "It could be the first of many cases that will help define
the gray areas (of state criminal law) created by the proposition."