Pubdate: Thu, 14 Jun 2007
Source: Rocky Mountain News (Denver, CO)
Copyright: 2007, Denver Publishing Co.
Contact:  http://www.rockymountainnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/371
Author: Tillie Fong, Rocky, Mountain News
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?232 (Chronic Pain)

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.
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