CASE TO SERVE AS KEY TEST OF PROP. 215
By: Lee Condon Daily News Staff Writer

Todd McCormick's arrest for growing pot in a BelAir mansion dubbed
``Liberty Castle'' is likely to become an important test case of the
voterapproved initiative legalizing marijuana for medicinal purposes.

It also could help resolve conflicts between California's new law and
federal law prohibiting all marijuana use.

At a detention hearing in U.S. District Court on Wednesday, McCormick's
lawyers said he has had cancer since childhood and relies on pot to numb
chronic pain. He was growing the pot for himself and to provide for others
who use it as medicine, they said.

A longtime activist for the legalization of marijuana, McCormick was a
supporter of Proposition 215, a statewide initiative approved by voters in
November that legalized medicinal marijuana.

McCormick was represented Wednesday by three lawyers, including Alan
Isaacman, famous for representing Hustler publisher Larry Flynt in his
various First Amendment battles to publish pornography. In the recent movie
``The People vs. Larry Flynt,'' Isaacman was portrayed by actor Edward
Norton.

``He wants to stand up and fight the issue,'' Isaacman said after a
court hearing downtown at which McCormick's bail was set at $100,000.

``This is a test case of whether the will of the people of California
will be carried out,'' he said. ``There is a clash right now between the
federal government and the state of California.

``He believes he has the right to enter into agreements with recognized
providers,'' Isaacman said. ``There are care givers in California who have
patients who need it supplied.''

Isaacman said McCormick was experimenting with various strains of
marijuana at the BelAir home. He said his client had hoped to eventually
provide marijuana to care givers of people like himself who need marijuana
for medical purposes.

In court, U.S. Magistrate James McMahon ordered that McCormick agree not
to use or grow any marijuana through Aug. 13, when a preliminary hearing
has been set.

Isaacman protested, saying McCormick needs to use marijuana to ease the
pain of a spinal condition caused by his various bouts with cancer.

``He has a right to do it under Proposition 215,'' Isaacman said.

McMahon retorted: ``He does not have the right to do it under federal
law. I can't sanction a violation of federal law.''

McCormick was held at the federal Metropolitan Detention Center in
downtown Los Angeles after McMahon said the potusing issue would have to
be settled by another judge as early as today.

``He will be in great pain,'' Isaacman said later. ``He's come to depend
on marijuana.''

Four others were arrested in the raid. Bond was set at $10,000 each for
Aleksandra Kristin Evangelidi, 23, of New York and Renee Danielle Boje, and
$15,000 for Hermes Zygott. David Wayne Richards, 25, of Palmdale was
released.

Sheriff Sherman Block ridiculed Isaacman's statements about McCormick
using the marijuana for medicinal purposes, saying the intent was to sell
to cannabis clubs around the state.

McCormick was able to hide his operation because the home is set back
and in an exclusive area of BelAir, he said.