Editors Note: The Registers county line poll question: DO YOU AGREE WITH THE
DECISION TO CHARGE MARTIN CHAVEZ WITH SELLING MARIJUANA?

To respond to today's county line poll call
YES (714)565-3651

NO (714)565-3645

From 6A.M. to 6:30 P.M.
Have a question for the county line? call (714)664-5075 any time

FELONY CHARGES ARE FILED AGAINST POT GROUP LEADER

Martin Chavez,43, is the leader of the Orange County Cannabis Co-Op.

Authorities say the issue is 'donations'medical users make.

The outspoken leader of an Orange County medical marijuana group has been
charged with eight felony counts of conspiracy and marijuana sales.

District attorney's investigators raided the Santo Ana home of Martin
Chavez at about 7 p.m. Wednesday and arrested him on a warrant signed be a
Municipal Court judge.

Chavez, 43 has said his Orange County Cannabis Co-Op started providing pot
to seriously ill people shortly after state voters passed an initiative
legalizing the medical use of marijuana in November 1996.

Authorities, however, take issue with the "donations" Chavez says he
accepts from patients, who must have a doctor's note to receive the drug.

He was charged with conspiracy to sell marijuana and seven counts of
marijuana sales dating back to March. Chavez was trying Thursday night to
secure $15,000 bail to get out of jail.

The arrest comes a week after federal authorities filed suit seeking to
shut down six similar groups in Northern California. It also follows a
state appellate court ruling that Proposition 215 does not allow the sale
of marijuana, only its use.

"If they were complying with the law, we wouldn't be taking such a hard
stance," said Deputy District Attorney Carl Armbrust. "We don't prosecute
people who comply with the law."

The prosecutions may lead patients back to the streets to find marijuana,
said Deputy Public Defender Sharon Petrosino, who is defending co-op
volunteer David Herrick against similar charges.

"I don't know why they're being so hard-core on this," Petrosino said.
"Everyone they were distributing to was a person dying of an illness. It
seems to lack compassion."

Co-op user Nora Hyland of Huntington Beach said she does not know where
she'll find the marijuana she uses for glaucoma and other ailments.

"I'm just utterly horrified," Hyland said. "What do we do now? ... I guess
it's back to the alley."