PROSECUTOR SNUFFS OUT POT SHOPS

Nevada County Proves Stricter Than Placer

Law enforcement officials are warning three Nevada County men who want to
sell medical marijuana locally that their plan is nothing more than a pipe
dream.

One of the men is currently selling pot out of a Colfax storefront, and the
other two are providing patients with the drug from a secret location. All
three say their operations are legal and are simply helping sick people get
their medicine.

The county prosecutor, however, said the law is not on the entrepreneurs' side.

"Show me some law that says it's OK to do what they're doing." Nevada
County District Attorney Michael Ferguson said. "I think it's illegal to
disperse marijuana."

Ferguson said Proposition 215 and case law only allow medical marijuana to
be grown and possessed. U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent Gordon
Taylor said he does not care what California law says; federal statutes
contend marijuana is illegal to grow, possess or sell.

Ron Black and John Brajcki grow marijuana for their own afflictions and say
they have the legal documentation to do so. Patients with doctors'
recommendations come to them to buy mostly one-eighth or one-fourth ounce
of pot at a time, Black said.

"I was hoping they would buy ounces," Black said, but he admits they have
made more money selling smaller quantities. "We've made $13,000 this year
or since last October."

Marijuana growers often are vulnerable to thieves, and Black said he has
slept with his plants more than once to protect them. "Once we got our OK
to grow our crop, we became a bull's-eye."

Black said there are "no illegal sales" in his operation, but he wants to
set up a retail store outlet with Ferguson's blessing. "He's not receptive
at this moment," Black said of the district attorney

Black said he backed off from the idea of opening a shop after consulting
Auburn attorney William O'Neill, who contacted Ferguson's office on his behalf.

"I talked to one of the deputy district attorneys in Nevada County, and he
said they would aggressively prosecute anyone not entitled to their own 10
(marijuana) plants," O'Neill said. "We were surprised to find Placer County
has a totally different take on the situation than Nevada County.

"Mr. Black was wise to check with the DA and an attorney. You don't advise
a client to flout the law."

Black's partner, Brajcki, said under new state law SB 420 he and Black can
sell what is left over from the 10 plants they put in last year for their
own use.

"I need the ability for a storefront office like everyone else," Brajcki
said. "They're opening up all around us; why can't we be in the ball game,
too?"

For the past few weeks, Jim Henry has been selling medical marijuana out of
a low-key operation off Highway 174 in Colfax.

"We opened a club about a month ago. We provide medical cannabis for
critically ill patients," Henry said, listing the major illnesses as AIDS,
cancer, hepatitis and chronic pain. "These people are sick; some are in
wheelchairs coming in here."

Henry said many of his appreciative customers are from Nevada County and
glad they do not have to travel to the Bay Area to get their pot.

"We check them thoroughly," he said of his review of doctors'
recommendations and California identification.

Henry said he tried to open an outlet in Nevada County but Ferguson would
not let him. He said he has his eye on a location, "but we're in limbo"
because of the district attorney's interpretation of the law.

Even if he can surmount local law-enforcement obstacles, Henry could still
be busted by federal agents.

"We take exception to the term 'medical marijuana,'" DEA agent Taylor said.
"If someone is going to operate a medical marijuana business, they are
violating federal law and opening themselves to investigation and prosecution."

People need to remember that marijuana is no longer the mild drug it was in
the 1970s, Taylor said. "The potency is much higher," and today's pot puts
several hundred thousand people in drug treatment programs every year, many
of them teens, he said.
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