HOME-GROWN MARIJUANA CHALLENGES ARIZONA POLICE

More than 2,300 Arizona residents have state permits to grow marijuana
in their homes - for now. That will end in a few months when
medical-marijuana dispensaries start opening and household gardeners
must pull the plug on their grow lights or face criminal charges if
they live within 25 miles of a dispensary.

But it's unclear who will enforce the shutdown, and spokesmen for
local law-enforcement agencies say they expect that will be a challenge.

The state Department of Health Services began issuing the growing
permits in April. DHS spokesman Laura Oxley said it will notify
holders when the permits are no longer valid but will not inspect
homes for compliance. That will be up to police if they suspect
illegal activity, she said.

Joe Yuhas, spokesman for the Arizona Medical Marijuana Association,
said the law was never meant to promote home cultivation. Doing it
without a state permit is a criminal offense that carries stiff
penalties, including possible fines and incarceration.

"I wouldn't think a person would want to take the risk," he
said.

Law-enforcement agencies across the Valley are grappling with how and
under what circumstances they will check on suspected
illegal-marijuana-growing operations. Most say they have no plans to
investigate addresses of expired permits routinely, and there must be
a complaint or strong evidence of a crime before they would try to
inspect a home. They agree that separating legal from illegal activity
under the voter-approved medical-marijuana law will be difficult.

Patients who had a marijuana prescription when the law took effect
last month can't buy it from legal vendors yet because the state won't
be approving dispensary sites until August. They can, however, apply
for home-cultivation cards available to anyone who isn't within 25
miles of a dispensary. Growing must be indoors and is limited to 12
plants.

According to commercial sites that sell lights and other equipment for
indoor cultivation, growing setups can cost hundreds to thousands of
dollars. Phoenix police spokesman Steve Martos said it is puzzling why
anyone would invest time and money in an indoor setup to use it only
for a few months or risk criminal charges by continuing the
cultivation.

So far, 2,315 Arizona residents have one-year state-issued cards to
grow marijuana at home for personal use, although DHS officials say it
is unlikely all are doing it.

Spokesmen for several Valley police agencies, including Phoenix,
Chandler, Gilbert, Tempe and Scottsdale, said they have no plans to
check homes on the DHS permit list routinely where residents may have
expired marijuana-growing cards.

"The law prohibits police from using the fact that a person has a
medical-marijuana card, by itself, to establish probable cause or
reasonable suspicion of a crime," Chandler Detective Frank Mendoza
said.

Neighbors who complain about suspected illegal drug activity may call
police and spur an investigation. However, DHS information on
marijuana-growing cards is not public record, so neighbors have no way
of checking whether the house next door once had permission and
doesn't any more. Police agencies, on the other hand, have access to
the DHS records, including the names and addresses of those authorized
to use or grow it and permit expiration dates.

Sgt. Steve Carbajal, Tempe police spokesman, said the department will
likely use DHS data as "investigative tools" if there's a complaint or
if police suspect illegal activity.

There must be strong evidence that a crime is being committed before
police initiate an investigation into reputed illegal
marijuana-growing, said Mendoza and Scottsdale police spokesman David
Pubins.

Glendale police are discussing the challenges of marijuana enforcement
under the new law with their legal department, and "we do not have
absolute answers right now," said Sgt. Brent Coombs, a department spokesman.

Martos, the Phoenix spokesman, said home use of medical marijuana
brings a myriad of enforcement challenges, including that the mere
detection of marijuana odor is no longer a clear-cut indication of
criminal activity.

Whatever police agencies say their plans are now could change in
coming months as medical marijuana becomes more accessible, DHS
spokeswoman Carol Vack said. "How they bust people for marijuana might
change. There are a lot of gray areas, a lot of undefined areas in
this law," Vack said.