MENDOCINO COUNTY SUPERVISOR, SHERIFF'S SERGEANT, TESTIFY FOR POT SUSPECTS

A member of the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors and a sheriff's
sergeant testified Thursday in a Santa Rosa courtroom on behalf of two
employees of a Ukiah medical marijuana cooperative charged with
transporting pot through Sonoma County.

Supervisor John McCowen and Sgt. Randy Johnson testified in the
preliminary hearing for Daniel Harwood, 33, of Willits and Timothy
Tangney, 29, of Lucerne.

The employees of Northstone Organics were stopped twice in two days on
Highway 101 near Cloverdale while delivering marijuana to people in
the Bay Area. About three pounds of marijuana was seized and the men
were each charged with four felonies.

McCowen testified their marijuana cooperative was in full compliance
with Mendocino County's medical marijuana ordinance, which is based on
state law and follows guidelines handed down by the Attorney General.

He said the ordinance allows Northstone to grow and distribute
marijuana and that he was aware that meant driving through Sonoma County.

"That's the most direct route between them and the Bay Area," McCowen
testified.

Johnson, who runs Mendocino County's medical marijuana program, also
testified that the cooperative could transport marijuana and sell it
to people with a doctor's recommendation.

However, under questioning from prosecutor Scott Jamar, Johnson
conceded the ordinance was valid only in Mendocino County. McCowen
also said the ordinance did not authorize distribution to the nine Bay
Area counties and that he never told the defendants they could
transport marijuana outside the county.

In a line of questioning suggesting potential bias, Jamar asked
Johnson about fees his county collected from Northstone director Matt
Cohen and 91 other permitted growers in his county.

Johnson said cooperatives with up to 99 plants each pay an initial
$1,500 application fee, $50 per plant and up to $2,000 a year for
periodic inspections.

Harwood and Tangney were cited twice in two days last year by the same
Sonoma County sheriff's deputy patrolling the same stretch of freeway.

They were cited with criminal charges despite presenting documentation
that they worked for a medical marijuana cooperative.

Pot advocates said the case points up inconsistencies in the way state
law is interpreted. Some have criticized Sonoma County as being too
harsh.

Bill Panzer, an Oakland marijuana defense lawyer representing Harwood
and Tangney, said the fact that an elected official and law
enforcement officer would testify for him suggests the case lacks merit.

"How many drug dealers get that?" he said outside court. "The courts
and the attorney general have clearly said they can distribute."