CHARGES DROPPED AGAINST POT PATIENT IN POSESSION AT CHECKPOINT

Federal prosecutors have dropped drug charges against a card-carrying
medical marijuana patient detained and cited at a U.S. Border Patrol
checkpoint on the Hood Canal bridge in August.

Stephen Dixon, of Brinnon, was riding in a car en route to the
Kingston ferry Aug. 22 when he was stopped at the checkpoint on
Highway 104 just west of the bridge. He was cited by border patrol
agents for misdemeanor possession of marijuana, according to the U.S.
Attorney's Office in Western Washington.

State law allows residents to possess pot if a doctor has recommended
it for certain medical conditions. Federal law - which governs the
border patrol - outright bans the substance, however.

Dixon and at least four other people have had marijuana charges
dismissed following checkpoint stops. That's not because of the state
medical pot law, but rather because of a lack of manpower, Western
Washington U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Sullivan said.

"It is the position of this office that these types of small
possession cases are more appropriate for state or local prosecution,"
U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Sullivan said in a statement. "It is our
longstanding policy to use limited federal resources to pursue the
sophisticated criminal organizations who smuggle millions of dollars
of drugs, guns and other contraband across our borders."

The border patrol's checkpoints on the Olympic Peninsula beginning in
August have generated an outcry from some residents, including a Nov.
3 meeting in Chimicum that drew an estimated 400 people. Border patrol
officials defended the practice at the meeting.

Paul Richmond, a Port Townsend-based attorney representing Dixon, said
his client suffers from chronic pain and uses marijuana to alleviate
it. Richmond said his client was "verbally abused" by border patrol
agents at the checkpoint and was made to wait in "cold wet weather."

Federal law allows checkpoints within 100 miles of any international
border crossing, border patrol agents have said in recent weeks. They
began conducting them following a funding boost that saw the agency's
Port Angeles office grow from four agents to 24.

The checkpoints are random and unannounced, and have occurred at
various points on the Olympic Peninsula. If stopped, border patrol
officials said it is generally a short encounter, unless they suspect
those in a vehicle are illegal aliens, terrorists or criminals. Those
cars are directed to a second line for further questioning, and
passengers can be possibly arrested or cited.