MARIJUANA ADVOCACY GROUP DECRIES COVELO POT RAID

A marijuana activist group on Friday protested a federal law
enforcement raid on a Mendocino County pot farm, saying it was
protected by the county's new medical marijuana cultivation ordinance.

The federal Drug Enforcement Administration confirmed the Wednesday
raid in Covelo, but a spokeswoman declined to comment on the details.

"We did conduct an enforcement operation, but everything is under
court seal," said Casey McEnry, a spokeswoman for the DEA in San Francisco.

Dale Gieringer, director of California NORML, a group pushing to ease
marijuana laws, said, "This raid is clear evidence that the DEA is
out of control."

The Covelo farm owned by Joy Greenfield, 68, was registered with
Mendocino County authorities under an ordinance that allows medical
marijuana collectives to grow up to 99 plants. The plants were being
grown for a collective in San Diego called Light the Way, NORML said.

She paid a county application fee and the garden had been inspected
by Mendocino sheriff's deputies, the group said. Greenfield was the
county's first such applicant, NORML said.

Federal agents removed 99 plants and took a computer and cash, the
group said. Greenfield wasn't there at the time.

Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman confirmed Friday that the
property owner had the proper paperwork and the marijuana was legal
in the eyes of the county.

"This was a federal operation and had nothing to do with local law
enforcement," he said. "The federal government made a decision to go
ahead and eradicate it."

He said conflicting county, state and federal marijuana laws create a
problem for law enforcement. "They've created a huge gray area," Allman said.

He said federal drug investigators may have information about the
Covelo operation that isn't known to local law enforcement.