MEDICAL MARIJUANA LAW TESTED

Couple Who Say They Have Permission to Use Plants for Illnesses Are
Charged With Felonies

Madison Heights --A legal test of Michigan's new medical marijuana
law is brewing in Oakland County, where a man and woman vow to fight
felony charges of manufacturing plants in their home.

Robert Lee Redden and Torey Allison Clark appeared before a Madison
Heights magistrate Tuesday afternoon to be arraigned on charges that
could send them to prison for up to 14 years and cost them up to $1 million.

Both suffer from chronic illnesses and claim to be
physician-certified to have the plants under the state's medical marijuana law.

On March 30, Madison Heights police broke down the door of the
couple's home with a battering ram and confiscated 21 marijuana
plants, $531 in cash and some notebooks, authorities said.

They were not arrested but were ordered to appear in court Tuesday on
the charges.

Redden, who suffers from bone disease and deteriorating hips, said he
was told by doctors that medical marijuana would ease his pain.

He said he showed police officers documents obtained from the
nonprofit Hemp and Cannabis Foundation, which opened its first clinic
in Michigan in December in Southfield.

A doctor there qualified Redden and gave him a document showing he
could use medical marijuana, and he started plants from seeds in
early March. Clark, who suffers from cancer, said she also has her
doctor's recommendation, which qualifies her to use the drug for pain.

On April 6, the state began accepting applications from residents to
join the Michigan Medical Marijuana Registry. Both Redden and Clark
applied for an ID card, but only after the offense occurred. Madison
Heights Deputy Police Chief Anthony Roberts said that meant they were
in violation of the law. Under the law, a registered user can possess
up to 2.5 ounces of pot and 12 plants.

In November, nearly two-thirds of voters decided Michigan should join
a dozen other states to allow medical marijuana use.

Attorney Robert S. Mullen said Redden and Clark were within their
rights to have the plants and that charging them with a crime amounts
to interfering with the patient-physician relationship.

The pair plan to use an affirmative defense -- an explanation for
their actions that excuses or justifies their behavior -- which has
been successful in other courts around the state, according to
medical marijuana advocates.

"Based on the actions of law enforcement and prosecutors, it's almost
as if the medical marijuana law doesn't exist and the will of the
people means nothing," Mullen said outside 43rd District Court.

Redden, a Vietnam veteran and 30-year resident of Madison Heights,
said he owned some of the plants and his girlfriend, Clark, owned some.

"Sick people shouldn't be in jail," he said after the hearing. Clark
was equally anxious: "Fourteen years? I have cancer. I can't go to
jail for 14 years." Redden and Clark are both charged with
manufacturing 20 but less than 200 marijuana plants. Redden is also
charged with being a repeat offender for having a marijuana
conviction in March 2006.

Magistrate Kimberly S. Wilson set a $50,000 personal bond for each. A
preliminary exam is set for April 22.

Oakland County Deputy Chief Prosecutor Paul Walton said any
affirmative defense will have to be raised in a court of law and
argued in a hearing.

Walton said his office had no "philosophy" regarding medical
marijuana cases and each would be reviewed on its own merits.