MISSING ACTIVIST WINS BACK DISPUTED OUNCE OF POT

Missing medical marijuana activist Christopher Robert Giauque appears to
have won a four-year battle to reclaim an ounce of pot seized during a 1999
traffic stop.

On Monday, Chief Judge Marilyn Patel of the U.S. District Court, Northern
California, ruled the ounce of marijuana be returned to the activist.

The case gained notoriety in spring 2001, when a Humboldt County Superior
Court judge found then-Sheriff Dennis Lewis in contempt of court for
refusing to return the marijuana to Giauque, who is a medical marijuana
patient. Giauque also was arrested at one point for attempting to stage a
free medical pot give-away on the steps of the county courthouse to protest
his predicament.

In summer 2001, a federal judge ordered the disputed pot turned over to the
Drug Enforcement Administration, where it was presumed destroyed.

Last month on Aug. 9, Giauque turned up missing. The Southern Humboldt
County resident was reportedly last seen traveling to the Spy Rock area to
meet a friend. Family members, who say they've put up a $50,000 reward for
information leading to his whereabouts, suspect foul play.

On Thursday, Sheriff Gary Philp said the investigation into the
disappearance continues, but so far to no avail. When asked to comment on
this week's court decision, Philp said at that point he'd only heard about
it through a telephone conversation with Giauque's Arcata attorney, Bryce
Kenny.

"I'm not in the habit of disobeying a direct order from a federal judge,"
Philp said. "But we'd have to review the decision."

Kenny, in a press statement, noted the ironic timing of the decision.

"This week's ruling affirmed that the DEA had overstepped its bounds, and
(is) seen as a victory for states' rights on the long-smoldering issue of
possession of medical marijuana," Kenny said. "The victory was tempered by
the fact that Giauque's family ... thinks he may have come to harm."