FEDERAL SEIZURE OF MARIJUANA PROVOKES LAWSUIT

Supporters of medical marijuana said Wednesday that they intend to sue
state and U.S. authorities on behalf of a Lebanon man whose plants were
confiscated in a seizure that pits federal law against Oregon's protection
of the drug as medicine.

Leroy Stubblefield, a 54-year-old veteran who uses a wheelchair, and two
other users of medicinal marijuana lost 12 plants Sept. 23 in a seizure by
federal authorities, said Paul Stanford, executive director of the Hemp &
Cannabis Foundation, a nonprofit organization that has taken up
Stubblefield's defense.

Stanford said Stubblefield is the first person in Oregon whose
state-licensed marijuana garden was confiscated by the federal government,
a charge that the federal Drug Enforcement Administration would not confirm.

Although the 12 plants were within Oregon's rules for medical possession, a
DEA agent confiscated them under the federal law that bans the drug,
Stanford said.

Stubblefield smokes marijuana to curb sleep apnea, pain suffered from an
automobile accident and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Speaking at a news conference at his countryside home outside of Lebanon,
Stubblefield said he was incensed by the federal seizure and the lack of
protection afforded him despite his status as a legal user of the drug in
Oregon.

"The more I think about it, it bothers me more and more," Stubblefield
said. "I felt we were left unprotected by our county."

The search was conducted by drug enforcement officers from the county's
Valley Interagency Narcotics Team, or VALIANT, along with DEA agent Michael
Spasaro, Stanford said. VALIANT is Linn and Benton counties' narcotics task
force, combining law enforcement agencies, district attorneys' offices, the
National Guard and Oregon State Police.

The officers were acting on a tip that Stubblefield and his caregivers had
about 100 illegal plants, Stanford said.

Linn County Sheriff Dave Burright confirmed Stanford's account that Spasaro
stepped in after local authorities had determined that the plants were
legal under Oregon law.

"They went up there based on information they'd received that there were
plants far in excess of what was allowed" under Oregon law, Burright said.

"There were 12 (plants), which was within the Oregon law, but it was the
federal officer that decided to enforce federal law, not the VALIANT officers.

"Ken Magee, assistant special agent in charge of Oregon DEA operations,
said it's common for federal agents to work with local and state
authorities, and he rejected the notion that local and federal authorities
were at odds over the seizure.

"There's no conflict of opinion whatsoever," Magee said. "Different
authorities have investigative authority and legal authority of different
laws."

No search warrant was served, but the residents consented to the search,
Magee said, adding that the U.S. Attorney's Office will decide whether to
press charges against Stubblefield and his caregivers.

"Marijuana is illegal under federal law to manufacture, possess and
distribute, and we enforce those laws," Magee said.

"The DEA has their position and we're sticking to it until I receive
further notice."

Ann Witte, a Portland attorney who has represented the hemp foundation in
other matters, said she plans a two-pronged legal attack in Stubblefield's
defense.

Witte wants the federal government to return the confiscated property and
pay for damages, and she said she'll target the state to prohibit agents
from working with the federal government on all marijuana investigations.

Under Oregon's 1998 Medical Marijuana Act, the user "is exempt from any
criminal prosecution as long as he abides by the act - and that includes
search and seizure," Witte said.

"When the state is going around giving people their word - 'As long as
you're complying with state law, we won't bother you' - they shouldn't be
taking the federal agents with them once they know that the federal agents
aren't going to be bound by that."

Attorney Leland Berger, a member of the legal committee for NORML, the
National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, said the courts
haven't resolved a host of issues related to medical marijuana, including
whether seizures such as this violate the Ninth and 10th amendments to the
U.S. Constitution, both protections of states' rights.

Intervention in state law is warranted only when there is a "compelling
federal interest," Berger said, and in this case, the most likely one -
that Stubblefield or the others intended to sell their product - already is
forbidden under the state marijuana act.

"It's all up in the air," Berger said.

"Everything that's going on will ultimately be resolved by the Supreme Court."

Following the seizure, Stanford's foundation supplied Stubblefield and his
caregivers with seven more plants and several ounces of marijuana, and he
all but dared the DEA to make a return trip to Stubblefield's home.

"I'd love to be here and greet them," Stanford said.

"I wish they would try to prosecute me."

Said Magee, of the DEA: "We look at each investigation on its own
individual merits."