BUTTE CO MMJ PATIENT MIKE FARRELL RAIDED

Doctor's recommendation no match for warrant in pot raid

The marijuana plants towered more than 17 feet high, visible over the roof
of the shabby shack off of Wisconsin Street in Chapmantown.

According to Vic Lacey, commander of the Butte Interagency Narcotics Task
Force-North, an agent attempted to inspect the plants on Tuesday, but ran
into unusual opposition from the grower, Michael Joseph Farrell, 35.

Farrell, who rents the $175-a-month one-bedroom "bungalow," climbed a ladder
onto the roof and hauled it up behind him. Farrell refused to come down. He
shouted for neighbors to call the media.

The agent left Farrell on the roof, got a warrant and a few friends.

Seven agents were joined by two deputies from the Butte County Sheriff's
Office on the Wednesday raid.

Once again, upon spotting the agents, Farrell ran up a ladder leaning
against the south side of the shack. Again he made demands that the news
media be called. This time, agents were able to talk the barefoot man off
the roof.

Farrell repeatedly told the agents not to "beat him up" saying, "I'm not a
soldier, I'm a sick man."

The agents never attempted to place Farrell in restraints. The only commands
against his freedom were to stay seated on an old sofa in the back yard and
not move around the property once he was off the roof.

Farrell had a blown up copy of a "doctor's recommendation" stapled to his
gate. The recommendation was signed by a doctor in Loomis. It did not say
why the doctor recommended marijuana for Farrell.

Farrell said he suffers from phantom pains. Farrell is missing one arm just
below the elbow. He also said he suffers from back and neck pain from "many
car wrecks." Farrell said he also has arthritis in his feet and broke both
of his feet in an accident.

Farrell also claimed his medicine was a treatment for his alcoholism.

"When I smoke it, I don't drink," he added, saying he has been sober for
five years.

However, Farrell admitted he has been smoking pot since the age of 14. He
says he currently uses an eighth to a quarter of an ounce, not including
brownie ingestion, each day. He also admitted to taking Vicodin.

Farrell claimed he was growing the marijuana for others, including "an AIDS
patient who lives across the street." He then said it was primarily for
himself.

The yard of the ancient house toward the back of a bungalow court smelled of
dog feces and urine. Five dogs, including two small puppies, had the run of
the yard. Agents occasionally scraped the soles of their boots on a corner
of the back porch or wooden walkway.

A tiny back porch was crammed full of rotting bedding and unwashed clothing.
An old sofa and a chair acted as the beds for the animals.

Drying marijuana buds were hung upside down across the ceiling. Stripped
stems were piled up on the porch. More were in a box that once contained a
child's bicycle seat.

Agents found about a pound of what Farrell claimed was Mexican-grown
marijuana in an old oven. Packaging material was found in the oven with the
pot.

Another agent found a small jar containing concentrated cannabis distilled
with alcohol and mixed with honey.

Inside the house, the small bathroom had been turned into a bud processing
room. A plate filled with stems and leaves was on a vanity. Stalks of buds
were hanging from red string strung across the bathroom.

Agents found three sets of scales.

Clothing was piled up on the bedroom floor and a bare mattress was on a bunk
platform. A card from the memorial service of Elizabeth Rebecca Lee, a
22-year-old Chico woman who was murdered 2 1/2 weeks ago, was on a shelf
near the front door.

There was no stove, refrigerator or oven in the kitchen. A trap door was
left partially open in the center of the floor. The sink was filled with
mail.

Lacey said he "tries to be reasonable" when seizing plants from the medical
users. In Butte County those with a medical recommendation can have six
plants and one pound of processed buds for their personal use.

"We'll leave something that still has bud on it, but I won't leave the big
ones to get out into the community," added Lacey. Of the 18 plants that were
in the ground, seven were left.

"That's one more than we needed to leave," Lacey pointed out. When agents
began hacking down the plants, starting with one of the tallest, a group of
neighbors groaned and shouted at the agents.

When they finished, it was bundled together and loaded onto a pickup. Agents
took it to the Chico Police Department.

"We will file a report with the DA's office," said Lacey. "We're charging
him with cultivation, possession for sale which includes distribution." The
distribution charge is supported by the scales and packaging materials.

Agents seized 20 pounds of fresh marijuana and another 10 pounds of dried
product.