MARINE POT GROWER ASKS COPS TO RETURN PLANTS

ARAPAHOE COUNTY - A decorated Marine approved by the state to use
marijuana for medical purposes is fighting to get back the dozens of
marijuana plants seized from his basement by Aurora police in April.

"I felt that I didn't do anything wrong," said Kevin Dickes, 38, of Aurora.

Dickes, who was wounded by a grenade in Kuwait in February, 1991,
was arrested April 27 for cultivation of marijuana, a felony that
could send him to prison for six years. He spent six hours in jail
before he was released on $6,000 bond.

He was in court today trying to get the case dismissed based on the
medical marijuana exception in the state Constitution, which was
passed by voters in 2000.

"This is a waste of taxpayer's time," said Dickes' attorney Robert
Corry, Jr. "The voters of Colorado said medical marijuana is legal."

According to police, 71 marijuana plants were seized from Dickes' basement.

At the time, officers reported that Dickes "knew he had cultivated
too many marijuana plants" and that he told them he "enjoyed growing
the marijuana plants."

Police also reported that although Dickes told them he was on the
state's medical marijuana registry, he told officers that the pot
was "not necessary" to treat the pain in his leg but "because of his
addiction to meth."

Dickes disputed the police's account.

"I use it for the pain," said Dickes.

On Feb. 2, 1991, he was with a unit that was escorting prisoners of
war in Kuwait when a grenade went off, killing three of his comrades
and injuring Dickes.

"I can't feel below the right calf," he said.

Dickes said he took Vicodin and Percocet for the pain but it didn't
help, since they're addictive.

In January, he started using marijuana and in March, he got his
doctor to sign off on the use of pot and obtained a medical
marijuana registry card from the state after paying the $110 fee. He
also started growing marijuana plants in his basement, using hydroponics.

On April 27, he said he was working at his computer, when Aurora
SWAT members burst into his home. "They had me down on the floor,
with guns pointing at me," he said. "I had never been treated like
that before, not even in Kuwait."

Dickes said the officers left him six marijuana plants but they all
died while he spent six hours in jail.

Since then, Dickes said he continues to use marijuana obtained
through the black market.

Corry argued that under the medical marijuana exception, there was
no limit to the number of plants that a person may cultivate for use
as long as they were "medically necessary."

He noted that many of Dickes' plants were "starter" plants, and some
may die and some may turn out to be male, which doesn't produce the
same medical benefits as female marijuana plants.