JUDGE ORDERS RETURN OF MAN'S MARIJUANA

BARSTOW M.J. Somers said he wanted to live by the law -- and that's
why he got his medical marijuana permit.

I know it sounds weird, but I went for the weed license because I try
to be a law-abiding citizen," said the 27-year-old Helendale
resident. "I'm not a fiend for marijuana that gets it from the corner
or the streets. I just need to smoke because I have health problems
- -- and that's it."

But Somers, who has a doctor-issued license to carry up to eight
ounces to treat chronic what he calls "chronic muscle pains and
seizures," said he felt like criminal when he was stopped by Barstow
sheriff's deputies on Route 66 in early January. During the traffic
stop, deputies confiscated close to an ounce of medical-grade
marijuana Somer said he had just purchased from a clinic in Los Angeles.

In a Barstow courtroom on Jan. 29, Judge Steve Mapes ordered the
marijuana's return after Somers presented his legal permit. Somers
said Mapes cited a similar case in Garden Grove in 2005 where a
district court ordered the return of one-third of an ounce of
marijuana police had confiscated in a traffic stop. An appeal by
Garden Grove officials was refused by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2008.

Mapes could not be reached for comment.

Somer's case highlights a conflict for county law enforcement
agencies, according to Lt. Rick Ells, a spokesman for the San
Bernardino County Sheriff's Department. The county is currently
challenging a state law that requires it to issue legal
identification cards to medical marijuana patients, claiming that
doing so would violate federal law that prohibits marijuana use.

Our deputies ... [that] are sworn to uphold both federal and state
laws are faced with a dilemma as to which law to enforce," Ells said.

San Bernardino and San Diego County filed their case on Jan. 16 with
the U.S. Supreme Court, which will accept or reject it later this
year. Until the case is decided, Ells said the county will continue
to uphold federal law prohibiting marijuana use, "until we receive
clarification from the courts."

Ells said he could not comment on Somers' specific case because he
had not yet seen a copy of the court order.

People stopped by county deputies in possession of the drug will have
it seized and receive a citation, Ells said. Deputies will document
the existence of the medical marijuana card in the report they send
to the district attorney, who decides if the case will be pursued, he said.

The resistance to medical marijuana at local levels of government and
law enforcement is dwindling, according to Kris Hermes, spokesman for
Americans for Safe Access, the Oakland-based medical marijuana
advocacy group that represented the Garden Grove man.

There are a few hostile counties like San Bernardino that still stand
against medical marijuana," Hermes said. "But landmark rulings like
the Garden Grove case are helping us fully implement and see
enforcement of state law."