CHP STANDOFF OVER MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Hollister - A legal battle erupted in the San Benito County
Courthouse when the county's public defender demanded a court hearing
to determine whether the local California Highway Patrol commander
broke the law by refusing to return a man's medical marijuana
confiscated during an arrest last year.

Public Defender Greg La Forge argued before Superior Court Judge
Steven Sanders that Hollister-Gilroy CHP Commander Otto Knorr should
return four grams of medical marijuana, or face the possibility of
being held in contempt of court because a judge had already issued a
court order mandating the marijuana be returned.

But Knorr said that while California recognizes marijuana as a
medicine under certain instances, the federal government does not.
That is why he cannot return the substance CHP officers confiscated
from 28-year-old Eugene Popok, a Los Angeles-area resident, during a
traffic stop for speeding on Highway 156 in October of 2004, he said.

Popok was charged with driving under the influence of marijuana at
the time, and La Forge said the criminal charges against his client
have already been settled. La Forge did not know what ailed Popok,
who was not present during Thursday's hearing, however the primary
cause for medical marijuana is chronic pain.

The case was continued to Jan. 19, at which time La Forge said he
will ask Sanders to hold Knorr in contempt of court if the commander
fails to hand over the marijuana. A misdemeanor contempt of court
charge carries a sentence of up to six months in jail. Knorr said he
did not know what he would do if Sanders ordered him to return the
marijuana in January.

"I'll cross that bridge when I come to it," he said. "I'm in quite a
quandary. I stand very strongly on my ethics and have a
responsibility to the people of the state of California, the
California Highway Patrol and my officers to uphold the law. If I
lose my integrity, I have nothing else to stand for."

La Forge called such reasoning "garbage" and pointed to a federal law
that protects law enforcement officers from criminal charges related
to enforcing state controlled substance laws. Ethics, he said, should
not factor into anyone's decision to follow a state law or court
order.

"They are trying to get around the court order by hiding behind a
penalty that doesn't exist," he said. "The DA's argument that he is
being put between a rock and a hard place is garbage."

The case playing out in San Benito's courtroom is a familiar one to
Allen St. Pierre, executive director of the National Organization for
the Reform of Marijuana Laws. He said similar cases have also been
heard in other states.

"It has happened before - usually the local police literally walk
across the street and drop it on the steps of the federal
courthouse," he said. "It's a very contemporary question. The
citizens of California have voted that (marijuana) is a medicine. It
would seem malevolent, if not foolhardy, to not return what has been
deemed legal."

La Forge believes Knorr's refusal to return the marijuana is in
direct conflict with the CHP's policy on medicinal marijuana.
Typically, the CHP takes a hands-off approach and will not confiscate
the drugs if the person qualifies under state law for possession of
medical marijuana, Knorr said. However, since Popok did not notify
officers during his arrest that the marijuana was for medical use, it
was confiscated.

"The defendant made no claim of medical use during the arrest and was
driving under the influence at the time," Knorr said Thursday outside
the courthouse. "Our policy allows us not to seize medical marijuana,
but it does not allow us to dispense it. That would be a violation
of federal law."

The problem, Knorr said, is that state law, prompted by the passage
of Proposition 215 in 1996 - which allows people with certain medical
ailments to possess small quantities of marijuana with a doctor's
recommendation - directly conflicts with a federal law prohibiting
the use or distribution of marijuana for any reason.

"We're caught in the middle of both," Knorr said.

But La Forge believes the law is clear, and said the District
Attorney "throws the book" at many of his other clients who violate
court orders.

"Why is this any different because a guy has a gun and a badge," he
said. "It's clearly a double standard."

District Attorney John Sarsfield did not return phone calls for
comment on the matter Thursday.

During the hearing, Sanders suggested the marijuana be returned to La
Forge, on behalf of his client. But La Forge would not accept,
explaining that only police officers are exempt from prosecution for
enforcing the state's drug laws.

Although the subject is a touchy one, La Forge believes he'll be
successful and based his optimism on a 2002 case in which he was able
to get San Benito County Sheriff Curtis Hill to return 11 grams of
medical marijuana to another one of his clients.

Hill also was unavailable for comment.