Pubdate: Mon, May 24 1999 Source: Associated Press Copyright: 1999 Associated Press POLICE SAY MARIJUANA CROP EXCEEDED NEW LAW A Tacoma Grower's Claim He Was Acting As A Caretaker For 11 Ill People May Put The Statute To The Test TACOMA -- A Tacoma man charged with growing 157 marijuana plants was legally raising them for sick people, a proponent of medical marijuana use says. But authorities who charged David Teatsworth say the amount of the drug clearly exceeded the boundaries of last year's medical marijuana initiative. That disagreement could turn Teatsworth's case into a legal test of the voter-approved law. Teatsworth pleaded not guilty Thursday to unlawful manufacture of a controlled substance. Teatsworth said Green Cross, which supplies medicinal marijuana to patients who have a doctor's recommendation, had contracted with him to grow the drug for 11 people. He agreed to raise the crop because he knew how to raise plants and was unemployed, he said. "We had passed a law. I thought everything was OK. I am not a criminal," Teatsworth, 43, said in an interview in the Pierce County Jail. "The Green Cross lawyers told me everything was legal because I was acting as a caregiver for the 11 people." Under Initiative 692, people who are too sick to grow their own marijuana can designate a "caregiver" to do it for them, said Charles Grisim, director of Green Cross' Pierce County chapter. But county prosecutor John Ladenburg said the initiative doesn't give anyone the right to grow marijuana for more than one other person. "The initiative doesn't make it legal for one person to become the marijuana grower for half the state," he said. "If the Green Cross thinks otherwise, then this will become the test case." Grisim said Green Cross attorneys have advised his organization that arrangements such as Teatsworth's are legal. "We've got an imbalance in the number of sick people who can grow marijuana and the number who need it," Grisim said. Ladenburg said prosecutors asked the Legislature this year to set specific limits and enforcement guidelines for the initiative approved last fall. But the legislation died, and rules of enforcement remain vague, he said. The initiative's main author, Seattle physician Rob Killian, agreed with Ladenburg's interpretation. "The law clearly contemplates one person growing marijuana for one other person," Killian said. "If Green Cross is claiming otherwise, then they're wrong." Ladenburg said law-enforcement officials also aren't sure how much marijuana a medical user or his caregiver may possess. The initiative allows a sick person with a physician's recommendation, or his caregiver, to possess a "60-day supply." Killian said he is working with the state to define that quantity. The amount may vary depending on a patient's needs, he said. Police seized 157 plants from Teatsworth's home Wednesday. Green Cross was going to pay him $200 an ounce for the finished product, and he figured his yield would be about 1 ounce per plant, he said. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake