POLICE APPLY CAUTION WITH POT ARRESTS

In a marijuana bust Thursday where four people were arrested,
officers from the Greeley Drug Task Force were especially careful
with the marijuana charges, and the plants that were found were left
in the house where they were growing.

It all happened because of recent court cases involving medical
marijuana.

Arrested in Thursday's bust were Chad Aiello, 24, his wife, Lindsey
Aiello, 21, Devin Loucks, 22, and Sean Garza, 19. Apparently, they
all were living at the house in east Greeley, where an undercover
officer made everal drug buys.

Those buys, included marijuana, small doses of OxyContin and Ecstasy
tablets.

But drug task force Lt. Mark Jones said officers had to be careful
because the main suspect, Chad Aiello, had a permit for medical
marijuana. The search warrant also tated that during one of the
buys, the suspects told the undercover officer how he could obtain a
permit to have medical marijuana.

According to Lt. Jones, obtaining a medical permit isn't that
difficult. "There are doctors out there -- especially in California
- -- who give out the permits like candy," Jones said. "There are some
doctors that if you tell them you have chronic back pain, they'll
give you the permit."

Chad Aiello apparently has a license to sell medical marijuana,
although he is accused of selling to the undercover officer, who
doesn't have a license to medically use marijuana and never told the
four suspects that he did. Jones said that's how officers were able
to arrest him on the dispensing charges.

To obtain a medical marijuana license in Colorado, the State Board of
Health requires the signature of a medical doctor who confirms that
the person has an illness that would suggest medical marijuana as a
treatment.

The warrant did not show if Chad Aiello actually had a medical
marijuana permit card. State laws prohibit the state from releasing
the names of patients who have the permits.

Illnesses for which marijuana has been designated as a treatment
include cancer, glaucoma, some types of chronic illness and an
immunodeficiency virus.

A medical marijuana permit costs $90.

On the search warrant for the house, police said an undercover
officer paid $80 for three OxyContin tablets and $30 for three
Ecstacy tablets. The undercover officer noted in court records that
the Ecstacy tablets were "100 percent pure," which indicated they are
unusually strong.

Although the price of the marijuana varied, the officer paid about
$220 for one-half ounce of the marijuana.

In the basement of the house, police found a small plastic swimming
pool that contained several growing marijuana plants, and grow-lights
had been set up to boost the plants' growth.

Because of cases in other cities involving the confiscation of
medical marijuana, Jones said the task force decided to leave the
plants in the house. "There have been cases where the police took the
plants, and when they all died, the police were sued by the person
who had the medical marijuana permit. We didn't need to take the
plants to prove our case, so we left them at the house."

In addition to drug charges, Lindsey Aiello was charged with child
abuse for allowing their 4-month-old baby to live in the house. The
baby was turned over to Social Services.

Bonds for the foursome total $350,000, with Chad Aiello being held on
the most bond, $200,000. All remain in the Weld County Jail.

About the drugs

OxyContin is a prescription narcotic pain killer, and Ecstacy is a
hallucinogen and produces stimulant effects like amphetamine. Both
are illegal to sell or distribute without a prescription.