MEDICAL MARIJUANA: BOOBY-TRAPS RAISE SECURITY ISSUES

Wood Village Resident Uses Complex Traps to Guard Legal Plants

The discovery of a booby-trapped legal marijuana grow at a Wood
Village residence illustrates an increasing concern among law
enforcement officers that creative efforts to protect pot plants
create safety hazards for emergency responders as well as citizens.

There was nothing unusual about the Oct. 12 call about a backyard shed
on fire in Wood Village until Gresham firefighters arrived at the home
of John Clinton Lloyd on 238th Drive.

There they discovered a bevy of booby traps apparently intended to
protect a medically licensed marijuana crop he maintains at his
parents' house. The traps include an 18-inch-wide pit lined on the
bottom with wooden spears, leg traps in the grass and a wooden fence
with nails pointing up from its top.

Besides a Multnomah County sheriff's deputy who accidentally stepped
in a trap that did not deploy, no one was injured during the fire
call. While Lloyd hasn't been cited with violating local or state
laws, the Sheriff's Office has referred the issue to the county
District Attorney's office for review.

Sheriff Dan Staton said he's concerned the increasing use of such
homemade traps creates a safety issue for emergency responders who
usually don't know where legal pot grows are located.

"It's come up a couple of times," he said, adding the topic is on the
docket for an upcoming Oregon Sheriff's Association meeting. "I think
now it's starting to become a concern all sheriffs are looking at."

Lt. Mark Matsushima, of the Sheriff's Office patrol operation, said
law-enforcement agencies were largely left out of the loop when state
law was changed to allow small marijuana grows for medical treatment
purposes.

"People call regularly to complain about a neighbor's grow operation,"
he said. "We're tied by current laws. At best, we can go and verify
that a person does have a legal grow. That's about the extent of it."

Adam Swail, a deputy in the narcotics and special investigation units,
concurred, adding there's no clear-cut answer on how a legal grower
should safely protect his or her backyard crop.

"It's a mess. It really is, from a law enforcement standpoint," he
said. "You can hide your valuables and put them in a safe, but that's
not the case with marijuana grows."