POT GROWERS DEFEND CROP

Arrests Highlight Lack of Regulations for Medicinal Use

Three men accused of running a pot factory in Azusa claim that they
are caregivers who grow exclusively for medical marijuana dispensaries.

Bryn Anderson, 38; Paul Shaw, 35; and Charles Newcomb, 47, were
arrested last month in an industrial sector of Azusa with more than
700 marijuana plants.

Because of differences between federal law, where it is illegal to
grow or use marijuana, and state law, where marijuana can be used and
grown by patients with a doctor's prescription, medical marijuana is
in a legal gray area.

Anderson believes that his case shows the difficulty that
dispensaries have in legally obtaining marijuana without getting in
trouble with the law.

"It doesn't get dropped off by a little green elephant," Anderson
said. "Someone has to grow it."

Shaw declined to comment for this story. Newcomb no longer has a
working phone number, according to Anderson. He said that Newcomb is
being evicted from his apartment.

Under the guidelines of Proposition 215, the 1996 voter proposition
that legalized medical marijuana, and SB 420, a 2003 state Senate
bill, a person who provides marijuana to people with a doctor's
prescription can claim to be a caregiver and can legally grow marijuana.

But there are no state regulations or licenses that determine who is
a caregiver and who is growing for the black market.

Sandi Gibbons, spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County District
Attorney's Office, said that prosecutors rely on evidence from law
enforcement officers to determine if a person is legally growing marijuana.

"We don't file charges for people who use medical marijuana for
personal use," Gibbons said.

Medical marijuana's precarious legal status was shown in January when
federal Drug Enforcement Administration agents raided 11 medical
marijuana dispensaries and seized thousands of pounds of pot.

A month later, California dispensaries were ordered by the state
Board of Equalization to start paying sales tax as a legitimate business would.

Newcomb's lawyer, Bruce Margolin, who is also director of the L.A.
branch of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws,
says the law allows the men to grow marijuana for dispensaries.

"As caregivers under Proposition 215, they are allowed to provide
medicine for patients," Margolin said.

SB 420 specifies that patients or caregivers can possess six mature
or 12 immature plants per qualified patient.

Margolin says his client and the other two growers have a patient
list of thousands all over Los Angeles County and all three have
doctor's prescriptions to be patients themselves.

However, SB 420 does not specify how many clients a caregiver can
have, or how to regulate caregiver growing operations so that they
would not be mistaken for black market grow operations.

There may also be some disagreement about how to define a caregiver.

Although Margolin said that his client was a caregiver for patients
that used his marijuana, Proposition 215 defines a caregiver as the
person that has "consistently assumed responsibility for the housing,
health or safety" of a patient - a designation that may make it hard
to believe a caregiver could have thousands of clients.

This lack of clarity in how to operate without getting in trouble
with law has Anderson wishing the state would get more involved.

"We need regulation, so people can see that what we are doing isn't
illegal," Anderson said.

Lt. James Whitten, an officer in the narcotics division of the Los
Angeles County Sheriff's Department, agrees.

"If we are going to have legal medical marijuana, then prosecution
needs some standards so they can pursue growing-operation cases,"
Whitten said. "It needs to come under some reasonable regulation."

Margolin says that all the confusion over the difference in state and
federal law means he is often showing judges and prosecutors the law
regarding caregivers possessing marijuana.

"They look at case law I bring them and they just can't believe that
this is part of the state law," Margolin said.

To avoid that confusion, several California counties allow anyone
with a valid ID card acquired from a doctor's prescription to
register their growing operation.

Mendocino and Nevada County caregivers can also form patient lists by
having patients write them in on their card as their primary caregiver.

With the patient lists, the county can figure out how much marijuana
they are allowed to grow.

Despite lacking a similar registration program, growers in other
parts of the state have had cases dismissed after arguing they were
connected to dispensaries.

John Cassatt had charges dismissed against him before even going to
trial in Nevada County in 2002 after being arrested with almost 400 plants.

In Sonoma County in 2002, Ken Hayes also had charges thrown out after
being arrested for possessing almost 900 plants.

Here in Los Angeles County in 2002, Elizabeth Levin's case was thrown
out before going to trial. She was arrested with almost 200 plants.

Margolin says that he has had cases where the district attorney has
declined to even file charges.

"Once I go and talk to the DA and tell him that they are trying a guy
who is connected to dispensaries, they don't want anything to do with
it," Margolin said.

But John Lovell, a lobbyist with the California Narcotics Officer's
Association, which opposes medical marijuana, says there are just as
many cases where growers claiming to be associated with dispensaries
were convicted of marijuana cultivation.

"There is no lawful way to manufacture marijuana on a large scale,"
Lovell said. He was unable to provide any specific cases of
convictions against a defendant who argued he was involved in medical
marijuana cultivation.

Lovell also said that evidence suggests that growers who were
involved in dispensaries are also involved in growing for the black
market, a claim disputed by Chris Fusco of Americans for Safe Access.

"All law-compliant dispensaries are very careful not to intermingle
with the illicit marijuana trade," Fusco said.

Dispensary trade is not very profitable, according to Fusco, with
collectives offering growers a fixed donation to cover their costs
and provide the growers with a decent income.

"Prices really vary with the quality of the medicine," Fusco said.
"Sometimes growers give it away, sometimes they will get thousands of
dollars for a large sale of quality medicine."

The Azusa police valued the plants in Anderson, Newcomb and Shaw's
grow house at $6,000 per plant, which could bring in millions of
dollars on the street.

Anderson declined to say exactly what amount of compensation he would
have expected for the pot, but said he did not make a lot of money as a grower.

"I have an old truck and live in a one-room apartment with my
girlfriend and four dogs," Anderson said. "I didn't choose to do this
to make money."