Pubdate: Tue, 09 Feb 2010
Source: Seattle Times (WA)
Copyright: 2010 The Seattle Times Company
Contact:  http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/409
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)

MEDICAL POT EXCEEDS LAW, BUT NO CHARGES

Calling the law unclear, King County Prosecutor Dan  Satterberg said 
Tuesday his office will not file  criminal charges against a former 
Seattle man who  police said had more plants at his community 
medical-marijuana garden than allowed under state law.

Mark Spohn called Seattle police on May 26 after four  armed men, 
posing as FBI agents, entered his house and  stole some of the 
recently harvested marijuana plants  he was growing at his 
Wallingford garden. When police  arrived they found that Spohn had 
more than 100 additional plants, which he was growing for himself 
and  20 other authorized medical-marijuana patients,  according to 
court paperwork.

Police seized the bulk of what they found, leaving 15  plants -- the 
state Department of Health's limit for an  individual 
medical-marijuana patient -- and forwarded  the case to the 
Prosecutor's Office.

Satterberg said there is no specific state law when it  comes to 
community gardens.

"The law neither permits nor prohibits a collective  [medical 
marijuana] operation," Satterberg said, adding  that he is not 
"obligated to prosecute people because  they have a few plants too many."

According to the memo announcing the prosecutor's  decision to not 
file charges, the law doesn't  "explicitly address how marijuana 
should be  manufactured by a provider in a legal manner or how it 
should be distributed to patients."

"Chief among these ambiguities is the question of  whether or not an 
authorized provider of marijuana is  allowed to provide for more than 
one patient over a  period of time," the memo says. "The statute is 
simply  unclear as to whether such activity is prohibited or  not."

Douglas Hiatt, a medical-marijuana activist and Spohn's  lawyer, 
called Satterberg's decision "the right thing  to do."

Satterberg said this doesn't mean that anyone running a 
medical-marijuana community garden will avoid  prosecution. He said 
that each case will be reviewed  individually.

Satterberg said that in the past seven years he has had  more than 
three dozen similar cases referred to his  office and he has declined 
to file charges in all of  them.

"I don't want to prosecute sick people," Satterberg  said. "If this 
is a legitimate medicine we should treat  it like a legitimate 
medicine. It seems that if  patients want to band together and share 
their time and  authorizations they should be allowed to do that."

Hiatt said it is expensive and time-consuming to grow  marijuana 
properly and that many people granted a  prescription are too ill to 
handle it themselves.

In 2008, the Department of Health set supply limit  guidelines for 
medical marijuana at 24 ounces of usable  marijuana plus 15 plants 
per person. Those who need  more marijuana to manage their pain, 
according to the  Department of Health, would have to prove they need 
it  -- though how they would do that remains unclear.

The Department of Health says that "a designated  provider must be at 
least 18 years old and must be  designated in writing by the 
qualifying patient." It  also says a designated provider "can only be 
a provider  for one patient at any one time."

But state health officials do not address patients,  like Spohn, 
growing marijuana for other patients, Hiatt  says.

"There's no law that prohibits patients growing for  other patients," he said.

Over the eight months since Spohn's plants were seized,  prosecutors 
told him that he should move out of  Wallingford to protect neighbors 
because his home had  become a known drug house. Spohn's agreement to 
move  was a "significant factor" in the decision not to 
file  criminal charges, Satterberg added.

But the Prosecutor's Offices hasn't heard the last of Spohn.

On Jan. 15, Shoreline police showed up at the home  after being 
notified by a Seattle City Light power  inspector that he may be 
running an illegal drug house,  Hiatt said. Spohn, 48, told 
investigators that he was  growing medical marijuana and had 85 
plants inside the  house, said King County sheriff's spokesman Sgt. 
John Urquhart. Investigators searched the home and left  Spohn with 
24 ounces of processed marijuana and 30  plants, Urquhart said.

"This was pretty egregious," Urquhart said. "The law is  real clear, 
we have absolutely no intention of going  after legitimate medical- 
marijuana growers or users  who comply with the law. In this case, he 
[Spohn] had  too much." The Sheriff's Office has turned the 
case  over to prosecutors with the recommendation that Spohn  be 
charged with possession of marijuana with intent to  deliver, a 
felony, Urquhart said.

"It's incredibly frustrating when this keeps happening  to patients," 
Hiatt said of Spohn's community garden in  Shoreline. "He was 
absolutely doing nothing wrong; he  was absolutely in compliance."

Hiatt believes that the Shoreline case won't go  anywhere. Satterberg 
said that his office has not made  a decision in the case.

Hiatt said that Spohn operated a community  medical-marijuana garden 
at his Wallingford home for  several months without any trouble from police.

Hiatt said that Spohn's medical-marijuana gardens had  been left 
alone by police until former Chief Gil  Kerlikowske left the 
department to head the federal  Office of National Drug Control Policy.

Hiatt said that Kerlikowske agreed not to enforce the  15-plant rule 
in Spohn's case.

But Seattle police deny that anything has changed in  regard to its 
policy toward medical marijuana.

Seattle police spokesman Sgt. Sean Whitcomb declined to  comment 
Tuesday on Satterberg's decision to not charge  Spohn.

No arrests were ever made in the Wallingford robbery.

Spohn declined to be interviewed for the story. Hiatt  said Spohn has 
several ailments that qualify for a  medical-marijuana prescription.

Satterberg said that while marijuana possession is a  low-ranking 
offense according to state felony  guidelines, three convictions 
could leave a defendant  spending less than six months in jail.

Satterberg, whose office has 55 open murder cases, says  he has "more 
important things do" than charge  marijuana-possession cases.

Seattle's new City Attorney Pete Holmes has stopped  charging people 
with misdemeanor pot possession, which  is less than 40 grams.
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