MAN WINS SUIT OVER MARIJUANA RAID

A Lane County jury on Wednesday awarded $70,000 to a Blachly man with a
medical marijuana card whose rural property was raided by sheriff's
deputies after a helicopter patrol detected two small marijuana plots.

Michael Wood, 43, a general contractor who operates an Internet-based
weatherization company and 18-acre farm, filed the lawsuit alleging
property damage and emotional distress from invasion of his privacy.

"It was never about money," Wood said Thursday. "It was the principle of
the matter. I did it so they hopefully will wake up and this won't happen
to other innocent people."

The raid happened Sept. 21, 2002, after deputies in a helicopter working
under federal and state anti-drug grants spotted plants growing in two
clearings enclosed by towering blackberry vines, according to Wood's
lawyer, Brian Michaels of Eugene. The officers on the sheriff's
drug-eradication team thought the land was BLM-owned, but crossed fences
marking Wood's property, Michaels said. The land was posted for no trespassing.

After cutting through the vines and an irrigation line, they discovered a
copy of Wood's medical marijuana card in the growing area. They left
without taking the plants, Michaels said.

However, Wood soon realized the raid had attracted thieves. He purchased a
motion-activated camera, which photographed two men on separate occasions
stealing marijuana from the property. One mistakenly left behind a large
fighting knife, Michaels said.

"His property is now open to the likes of violent criminals. He is
horrified," Michaels said. A 1.6-acre blueberry patch and separate mushroom
growing operation died for lack of water because of the severed irrigation
line.

Wood said he asked the sheriff's department to patrol the area to ward off
thieves, but his request was ignored.

"When I walked in there, they treated me like a criminal," Wood said. "They
didn't arrest me until I complained about it. I'm disappointed in the whole
system."

Michaels said officials filed felony drug charges against Wood after Wood
sued the county. A judge ruled the search was illegal and threw out charges
alleging Wood grew more plants than allowed by the medical marijuana law.

Lane County Sheriff Jan Clements said his officers did not retaliate
against Wood. A grand jury issued the charges after investigators and the
district attorney's office finished their work. The timing of the criminal
case and the filing of the lawsuit was coincidental, he said.

Clements said the trespass was accidental. Had officers known they were on
private land, they would have asked a judge for a search warrant in accord
with the law and their policy and practice. He said the lawsuit will cause
the team to be more careful, but will not bring policy changes.

The county is self-insured and county funds will cover the award, county
attorney Dave Williams said. The lawsuit sought more than $300,000.

After a four-day trial, the 12-person jury ruled Wood was legally growing
plants for another medical marijuana card holder- accounting for the excess
plants - and that the number of plants did not matter in the case. They
awarded Wood $60,000 for emotional distress from invasion of privacy and
$10,000 for property damage.

Wood said he is grateful to jurors for hearing the case, but regretted
having to file the suit.

He said he carefully hid the marijuana grow from his family, friends and
workers at the farm to ensure security on the property and privacy for his
medical treatment. He said marijuana relieves his chronic pain from a
spinal injury and muscle spasms without the aftereffects of prescription drugs.

The incident prevents him from using his property to grow the drug and has
exposed his private medical treatment to public scrutiny, he said.

"I don't want to air my laundry in public," Wood said. "Some days you've
got to stand up to the bullies."