'LEAVE ME THE HELL ALONE'

Medical Marijuana User Wants To Know Why Police Raided His Home

Kamloops - Drug charges will not be laid against a Kamloops medical
marijuana user who lost his pot and growing equipment in what he
describes as a pointless exercise in police enforcement.

RCMP executed a search warrant at Carl Anderson's home in May,
seizing 145 plants, more than six kilograms of marijuana as well as
growing equipment, lights, timers, weigh scales and the man's computer.

He was released without charges with a promise to appear in court at
a later date. Federal Crown prosecutor Anthony Varesi confirmed
Thursday the man will not face drug charges, saying only the decision
not to proceed was made after "considering all the circumstances."

For Anderson, the decision is good news but leaves him wondering why
police took action against him in the first place.

"I just want to know what this was all about," he said. "They knew
damn well I was a medical marijuana grower. I don't know why they
were persecuting me."

Anderson said police were aware he was allowed by Health Canada to
grow marijuana for his own health needs. He said his permit even
allows RCMP to inspect when they want. All officers needed to do was
knock at his door and he would have let them in.

Instead, police came unannounced and seized all his plants and
equipment. They left him without the substance he says is the only
thing that keeps him healthy.

"I begged them, telling them I was legal. They were messing with five
years of work. They destroyed it," said Anderson. "They didn't
listen, they just took it all."

Anderson, badly injured in a car accident years ago, discovered
cannabis was the only substance that relieved his severe headaches.

His doctor gave him a prescription for marijuana, and Anderson soon
after went from living in constant pain to being almost pain-free. He
doesn't smoke the drug, he says, but mixes it in olive oil so he can
ingest it orally.

Anderson said for the last five years, he has worked hard to develop
his "lab" and his growing skills, investing thousands of dollars into
his basement greenhouse.

"Yes, it was a sophisticated operation," he said. "I was good at
(growing). I loved doing it."

He denies he violated any laws - including the suggestion he had more
plants than allowed. Anderson said there were only 49 mature plants
growing at the time, the number allowed by his permit. The other 80
or so seized by police were unrooted cuttings that would have formed
the basis for his next crop, a third of which would have died before
growing roots.

"They were just little cuttings in little cubes that would have taken
two weeks to root. By the time they had rooted, the other plants
would have come down," he said.

Anderson said some of the harvested marijuana seized in the raid was
still green and weighed significantly more than it would have when dry.

After the raid, Anderson learned police obtained a search warrant
after using infrared screening equipment on his house.

In the officers' opinion, the heat signature produced from his grow
was larger than what should come from a 49-plant operation, leading
the drug squad to request the search.

Anderson admits he had 14 lights - more perhaps than what was
required to grow 49 plants - because more light makes for more
productive plants.

Nothing in his permit restricts the number of lights he is allowed to
use. He said had he wanted to, he could have had one light over each plant.

Anderson said he has never sold drugs to anyone and has worked hard
to live by the conditions of his permit. He has a wife and two kids
and doesn't want trouble, he said.

He was in the process of building a proposal to get a permit to grow
marijuana for other permitted medical users and develop the operation
as a viable business.

"I was putting my head injury behind me. I was getting my headaches
down to maybe one a week. I felt good and was working hard every day.
. . . That's when the cops showed up."

RCMP Sgt. Scott Wilson said police made their decision to seek a
search warrant after consulting Crown lawyers.

Once inside Anderson's house, what officers found convinced them they
were faced with a commercial grow - not one man's personal pharmacy.
The sheer number of plants, the nature of the operation, the weigh
scales as well as two improperly stored firearms and a set of brass
knuckles added up to a criminal enterprise for the seasoned officers, he said.

As a result, the squad seized everything - including the marijuana
Anderson was permitted to possess - even though there was no evidence
to indicate Anderson was trafficking.

Wilson said officers acted in good faith to do a job they take
seriously - taking down marijuana grow ops in Kamloops. The
department later returned 800 grams of marijuana to Anderson.

"The (drug section) did a lot of work on this one," he said, adding
the squad isn't pleased with the Crown's decision not to proceed with charges.

Meanwhile, Anderson said his lawyer has told him a lawsuit is
possible but he mostly wants to recover his health again and move on.
He said he still hopes to obtain a permit that will allow him to
start a medical marijuana business.

"I like doing it, I'm not trying to break the laws or anything like
that. There is no drug dealing going on. I just want them to leave me
the hell alone."