DEPUTIES BUST POT GARDEN

CLEARLAKE OAKS -- Unclear documentation and what authorities allege
was lack of compliance with state law led to the recent seizure of
hundreds of marijuana plants.

The Lake County Sheriff's Office arrested one person and confiscated
more than 500 marijuana plants from a hilltop marijuana growing
operation known as the Patient's Alliance in Clearlake Oaks Sept. 7.

Michael Nilsen of Patient's Alliance said LCSO acted outside the law
by arresting him and pulling out the plants, which he said belonged to
90 medical marijuana patients both inside and outside the county. He
claims to have been "robbed at badgepoint."

The operation came to LCSO's attention during a "routine overflight
mission," said Detective Steve Brooks.

Based upon what he saw multiple rows of marijuana growing in plain
sight Brooks obtained a search warrant to check out the plants.

Sgt. Mike Morshed examined the operation's books. After spending a
couple of hours engaged in that task, Morshed determined that
Patient's Alliance was growing marijuana for multiple out-of-county
residents, including individuals from San Francisco, Oakland and
Sonoma Counties.

And therein, according to California law, is the problem.

Senate Bill 420, passed in 2003, allows "primary caregivers" to have
multiple patients within the same city or county, but just one patient
outside.

Nilsen who leases the property used for Patient's Alliance presented
doctors' referrals for multiple patients to account for the hundreds
of marijuana plants being grown there, Brooks and Morshed reported.

The number of out-of-area patients accounted for part of the decision
to pull the plants, Brooks said. Another factor, he said, involved
interviews with people at the scene.

"Out of the statements that we took there were many inconsistencies,"
he said.

Inconsistencies, Brooks said, involved how many plants each volunteer
gardener was to have for their own. SB 420 allows for a specific
number of plants for each person with a doctor's referral. Workers in
the field, Morshed said, told detectives at the scene that they were
there working in the field hoping for a jar or "whatever he (Nilsen)
decides to give us," Morshed quoted.

"These people were not getting their five plants," Brooks
said.

"This totally contradicts the statute," Morshed added.

Nilsen contends that the rationale for removing the plants was based
upon the statement of one person his girlfriend who told detectives
she was sharing a mason jar of marijuana with Nilsen.

"They used that as their basis for eradicating 90-something people's
medicine," he said. "That completely startles me."

The people in the field, who Morshed said are Proposition 215
cardholders, should have had their specific plants allotted to them.

"It sounded like they were at the mercy of whatever Mike (Nilsen)
decided to give them," Morshed said. "So right there, now you're
getting marijuana for tending the garden."

Nilsen said he is concerned that without the garden producing
marijuana, some people will turn to cannabis clubs to obtain their
medicine. "There's gonna be people out there who have to spend
thousands of dollars on clubs," he said. "Club prices are insane."

Morshed's position is that while there were probably people obtaining
marijuana from the Patient's Alliance for legitimate medical reasons,
enough warning signs existed to suggest the operation was not on the
"up and up."

"They're flying under the flag of the medical grow," he said. "There
may have been some people needing it who are getting it I'm also sure
they're not running the operation the way Mike is telling us."

Morshed said that while detectives were there to serve the warrant and
inspect the operation, had it been clearly legitimate, they would have
left without pulling a single plant.

Morshed said from the air hundreds of legitimate marijuana grows can
be seen. "You can tell right away if it looks like it's in
compliance," Morshed said.

Compliant grows typically are smaller, he said, with 10 or 11
well-tended plants and paperwork to clearly indicate who is
responsible for them.

Brooks investigates grows "as he can" and observed that legitimate
growers are "quite open with it." But he hasn't seen them all, he
said. "I don't have enough time in a day to run after these medical
grows."

Inconsistencies at the Patient's Alliance led LCSO to believe that the
marijuana garden was questionably legitimate and for that reason they
decided to remove the plants, Morshed and Brooks explained.

"We're not trying to target people," Morshed said. "We're just trying
to make sure they're in compliance."

He added, "We really don't want to give the legitimate people
problems; we just want to stop the profiteers using the 215 banner."

The story isn't over; Nilsen will be in court on Oct. 7.