MARIJUANA PLANTS NEAR SCHOOL IRK PARENTS

Medical Marijuana Act Does Not Specify If Plants Can Be Grown Near Schools

JEWELL - Marijuana growing in the school parking lot may seem like every
stoner's dream, but not in Jewell.

The Clatsop County Interagency Narcotics Task Force seized 13 marijuana
plants Wednesday from a house inside Jewell School's horseshoe-shaped
parking lot.

Mary and Larry Porter, who rent the house on Oregon Highway 103, still own
seven plants and police can't do anything about it, detective Sgt. Tom
Bergin said.

"They're very cooperative people," Bergin said. "They just believe in a
different philosophy than I do."

Mary Porter, 43, has a caregiver's card to grow seven plants to aid Larry
Porter, 56, who retired from the Air Force in 1971 and has a medical
marijuana card.

She said she always expects several plants to die because she is a
notorious "brown thumb," so she planted more than the legal limit.

Larry Porter said they have been approached by people wanting to buy their
marijuana, but they refuse to sell it.

"They said they could sell as much as we could produce," he said. "I tell
them, 'You don't want to do that.'"

Larry Porter contracted diabetes while transporting Agent Orange during the
Vietnam War and contracted hepatitis C while hauling dead and wounded
soldiers off the battlefield. The diabetes is now causing his bladder to
fail and the hepatitis is causing sclerosis of the liver. He also suffers
from post-traumatic stress syndrome. Porter said the marijuana allows him
to maintain his quality of life despite numerous prescription drug
interactions.

"I don't do well on narcotics, so I do this instead," he said.

The Porters have grown the plants for two years, but Larry Porter said this
is the first year the plants have produced anything. They harvested three
plants shortly before the police confiscated them along with 10 plants.

Bergin said the task force is asking a judge to call a grand jury to decide
whether to indict the Porters for their extra plants.

About 3,600 people have a medical card to grow in Oregon, said Michelle
Aarhus of the Medical Marijuana Office at the Oregon Department of Human
Services. Bergin said several have licenses in Jewell, but he couldn't
remember ever busting a medical operation that was illegal.

Although drug manufacture and distribution is prohibited within 1,000 feet
of a school, the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act doesn't specify the distance
from a school, Aarhus said.

When school started in September, students began to notice the plants
inside the Porter's yard, which is surrounded by a five-foot fence, said
14-year-old Kane Degerstedt. "People talked about jumping the fence," Kane
said. "I heard rumors kids almost got bit by their dog."

Kane said he also heard rumors a schoolmate had stolen a top off the plant
about two weeks ago, but Mary Porter said she never lost any parts of the
plants.

"We have all our gates locked and we have a 7-year-old rottweiler," Mary
Porter said. "It would be impossible to get in."

Kane Degerstedt's mother, Tia, said she's worried about the curiosity
sparked in the teenage students.

"I'm not necessarily against medical marijuana," Tia Degerstedt said. "I'm
just against it being under my kids' noses. There should be a law that it's
a least 600 feet from the school."

The fence has gaps between the boards, less than a quarter-inch, and Tia
Degerstedt said she peered through the boards and could see the plants, but
said she never spoke with the Porters. "I feel uncomfortable walking up to
their door and talking," she said.

But Mary Porter said she's told her landlord about the medical marijuana
plants and feels she's been honest about the operation.

The Porters moved to Jewell from Milwaukee June 1 with nine plants - two
more than the legal limit.

Bergin said police first contacted the Porters July 15 because of some
complaints and told them to destroy two of their nine plants. All but four
of the plants died when they were housed in a shed with high humidity. The
plants cost about $1,500 each and Mary Porter said she moved them outside
to keep them alive.

"I figured they would comply, instead they doubled their operation," Bergin
said.

Bergin said he noticed the plants outside when he flew over the area Aug.
6. The Medical Marijuana Act, implemented in 1999, prohibits the growth
within "public view" or view from the road, Bergin said. The plants are not
visible from the road and Mary Porter said they never were within two
inches of the fence. Superintendent John Seeley said he never noticed the
plants, but heard complaints from parents and children.

"I went over and I met with her and she was pretty upfront about it,"
Seeley said.

While the house may look like it belongs to the school, Seeley said it
belongs to private renters so the school can't do anything about it.

The Porters had about 20 plants when Bergin and members of the task force
visited them Wednesday. Mary Porter said she has an appointment to get a
medical marijuana card for herself.

"When you live with someone with (post-traumatic stress syndrome), you get
PTSD," she said, adding she also suffers from tendonitis.

Mary Porter added the medical marijuana plants have different levels and
types of the drug THC than the kind that will "get you loaded."

The Porters are building a cedar shed to house the plant. Six are grown
under lamps in a shed and one grows outside behind 10-foot-boards. They
have painted and repaired the house on their fixed income of disability
benefits, veterans' benefits and Social Security. When the Porters moved
into the house, Mary Porter said she threw out drug paraphernalia and
condoms left over at what was rumored to be a "party house."