Pubdate: Fri, 03 Jun 2011
Source: Press Democrat, The (Santa Rosa, CA)
Copyright: 2011 The Press Democrat
Contact:  http://www.pressdemocrat.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/348
Author: Paul Payne
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?115 (Cannabis - California)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)

SONOMA COUNTY MAN FINALLY GETS HIS POT BACK

Ryan English left the Sonoma County courthouse a happy man Friday 
after a judge returned five boxes of marijuana seized in a raid on 
his Healdsburg home more than a year ago.

The 29-year-old brain tumor survivor had been charged with three 
felonies including possession for sale, but two judges ruled there 
was insufficient evidence that any crime had been committed.

It took months of legal wrangling to get the Sheriff's Office to 
release his 81 plants and two pounds of processed pot, but English, 
who now lives in Santa Rosa, finally prevailed. Using a dolly, he 
wheeled the weed past the jail to his car, green buds showing out of 
the sides of the boxes.

"Finally, 15 months later," English said. "I'm surprised it took as 
long as it did."

It was an unusual sight in the Hall of Justice, in part because law 
enforcement and prosecutors often won't accept that people with a 
legitimate medical condition can legally possess and grow marijuana, 
said Joe Rogoway, English's lawyer.

California voters in 1996 approved Prop. 215, allowing those with a 
doctor's recommendation to have marijuana. Legislation in 2003 
established possession limits and Sonoma County adopted its own 
regulations, allowing three pounds per year per patient and 
cultivation of up to 30 plants. People working in a cooperative, like 
English, can grow more.

However, pot is still being seized and when charges are later 
dismissed, and police are reluctant to return marijuana, often 
destroying it instead.

In his client's case, Rogoway said prosecutors last year refiled 
criminal charges when English asked for his pot back. The second 
judge tossed the case after a preliminary hearing in April.

The "vindictive prosecution," as Rogoway described it, wasted tax 
dollars at a time when the county can least afford it.

"They are prosecuting these cases as if there are no medical 
marijuana laws," Rogoway said outside court. "They need a time 
machine to travel back to 1995. That's where their understanding of 
the law remains."

The district attorney's office did not return calls Friday seeking comment.

Assistant Sheriff Lorenzo Duenas said deputies respect local 
guidelines and only seize marijuana or arrest people if they have 
probable cause that a crime occurred.

Last year, Duenas said deputies seized more than 300,000 marijuana 
plants - the largest haul in county history.

Because marijuana is still illegal under federal law, its return 
requires a court order, even if criminal charges are dropped.

"We still have to uphold the Constitution," Duenas said. "If we 
release it, we will be in violation of federal law."

He said deputies acted appropriately in the English case. The initial 
charges were dismissed when a detective failed to make a court 
hearing. Prosecutors re-filed because there was a suspicion English 
was selling pot, he said.

"We still believe we acted in good faith," Duenas said.

However, English, who now lives in Santa Rosa, said he wasn't selling 
pot. He was growing it for himself and two other people with medical 
conditions, he said.

Without it, he suffers migraine headaches from the tumor he had 
removed about 10 years ago.

"A doctor recommended it as an alternative to prescribed drugs," he 
said. "It relieves the migraines."

English is one of the many medical cannabis users in the county who 
have been thrust into the position of fighting for what is theirs, 
Rogoway said.

Many have yet to be vindicated for doing something the law and their 
doctors allow, he said.

"People shouldn't have to go through what Mr. English did," Rogoway 
said. "It's something as a community we need to deal with."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom