cannabisnews.com: Medical Pot Gardens On The Rise in Southern Oregon





Medical Pot Gardens On The Rise in Southern Oregon
Posted by CN Staff on September 14, 2003 at 16:38:29 PT
By The Associated Press 
Source: Associated Press 
Medford - When drug-enforcement officers fly over Jackson County in search of marijuana, they can't always confiscate the large, lush plants they spot. Increasingly, when officials spot growing marijuana during a fly-over or get a complaint from neighbors, they discover the property owner has the state's approval to grow medical marijuana, said Lt. Dewey Patten, commander of Jackson County Narcotics Enforcement Team.
"This year we've found more gardens that have medical marijuana cards associated with them," he said. "It's the thing of the future." In Jackson County, 335 people had state-issued medical marijuana cards at the end of August, said Mary Leverette, director of the state's medical marijuana program. Under the program, each patient with a card can have three mature marijuana plants, three immature plants and a small amount of ready-to-use cannabis. About 60 percent of the patients authorize a caregiver to grow marijuana for them, she said. State law doesn't limit how many patients a caregiver can grow marijuana for. Patten said initially when officials discovered marijuana on private land, they would track down and contact the owner, only to find that person had state approval for the garden. Now officers first go to the Department of Human Services, which will verify whether an address is on the authorized growers list, he said. Officers can inspect authorized gardens to ensure the growers are complying with the medical marijuana law. When the county added aerial surveillance to its anti-drug force years ago, officers regularly spotted large marijuana plants in big gardens, Patten said. As growers wised up, they focused on raising small, low-growing plants that were easy to hide. Now big plants are common again because gardens growing medical marijuana don't need to hide, he said. Still, not every grower has gone legit. Last week, officials pulled more than 70 marijuana plants from remote public forest lands near Prospect, Patten said. Source: Associated Press Published: September 14, 2003Copyright: 2003 Associated Press Related Articles & Web Sites:SOMM-NEThttp://www.somm-net.org/Hemp & Cannabis Foundationhttp://www.thc-foundation.org/Dr Mikuriya Defends His Practice http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17264.shtmlPatients Defend Medical Marijuana http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17028.shtmlMedical Marijuana Giving Cops a Headache http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread16993.shtmlMedical Marijuana Connection Growing http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14706.shtml
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