cannabisnews.com: Calaveras Raid on Church Nets 287 Pot Plants





Calaveras Raid on Church Nets 287 Pot Plants
Posted by FoM on August 05, 2000 at 13:35:33 PT
Group: Grass had Medical Use 
Source: Stockton Record
The Calaveras County Sheriff's Department this week raided a fledgling Wallace church that had created what it called a "congregational caregiver program" to provide marijuana to those with medical needs. Authorities said they destroyed 287 growing marijuana plants at Northern Lights Church. Investigators detained and interviewed three adults and one child during the Wednesday-morning raid, but no arrests were made. 
David Jack, who uses marijuana for medical reasons and is one of three ministers at the Universal Life-affiliated church, said the marijuana was being grown on behalf of 20 patients, and another 14 people were seeking help through the church. "This is very, very frustrating," said Jack, an outspoken advocate for medicinal marijuana. "We have some very disturbed people who have worked together to try and raise these plants. We tried to do everything right." Jack, who serves on a task force created by the Board of Supervisors to develop guidelines for medical-marijuana use, said the church falls under the legal heading of "caregiver" and therefore should be permitted to supply marijuana to people who have a medical recommendation to use it. Proposition 215, passed in 1996, made it legal for people suffering from certain medical conditions to use marijuana if they have a doctor's recommendation or approval. In San Joaquin County as well, a group called San Joaquin Medical-Marijuana Association is asking officials to find ways to allow lawful distribution to medicinal users. Jack, like the advocates in the nearby Valley, has been frustrated by the inability of Calaveras residents to safely obtain marijuana for medical purposes. In June he said a dispensary had been established to provide the drug to residents legally entitled to use it. Jack said the Northern Lights Church congregation agreed to operate as a caregiver through the church. "It's a cooperative of church members," Jack said. "Not all of them smoke it or ingest it. I know one lady who uses a strip of hemp in her bible -- she considers (marijuana) a holy sacrament." Sheriff Dennis Downum said people interviewed at the church on the morning of the raid did not claim Proposition 215 as a primary defense for growing marijuana. "They basically claimed a 'sacrament' defense," Downum said. "But there's no provision in the law that I'm aware of that gives a church any sacramental right to grow marijuana or distribute marijuana. "They've got us confused, to some extent. But what they're putting forward is not, in my opinion, listed as an exemption under Proposition 215." Jack disagreed, though, saying court cases have set a precedent for allowing a cooperative to serve in the role of a primary caregiver. District Attorney Peter Smith said he had never heard of a church being designated as a primary caregiver with respect to medical-marijuana use. He would not comment on the specific facts of this case because he had yet to receive the reports from the Sheriff's Department. Downum said his department became aware of the marijuana grow site after neighbors registered "numerous complaints" about it. "You could look up there from Southworth Road and see a lot of plants growing," Downum said. "And when you got up into the driveway, you could see a big fenced-in area that was basically solid marijuana plants." Jack said the church was not trying to hide anything. "We have signs on the front of our church that said this was medicinal marijuana," he said. Jack also had written Smith two days before the raid and informed him the church had created its "congregational caregiver program in order to provide a co-op for our church members who have a physician's recommendation for medicinal cannabis." Smith said he hadn't seen the letter until after he got a call from Downum informing him about the raid. Jack said he was appalled at this week's raid. "Law enforcement is trying to make a mockery out of our faith and our religious belief we have of helping comfort people in a more humane, humanitarian, more spiritual way," he said. Authorities served two search warrants in the 8000 block of Southworth Road Wednesday morning and while executing the first, they found more than 150 growing marijuana plants in the front yard and 70 more plants in the back yard, according to a Sheriff's Department report. A second search warrant was served at a second building on the property, which was the church, and deputies found 67 growing plants. "That was designated as the church," Downum said. "But all that was inside was a set of drums and a bunch of marijuana plants. There were no pews or seats." By Francis P. Garland , Lode Bureau Chief* To reach Lode Bureau Chief Francis P. Garland, phone 736-9554 or e-mail garnel goldrush.com Contact: editor recordnet.com San Andreas, Calif. Published: Saturday, August 5, 2000 Copyright: 2000 The Record Related Articles:New Panel Faces Medical Pot Issuehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread4562.shtmlVote Establishes Task Force To Study Issuehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread4020.shtmlCalaveras Supervisors Study Medical-Pot Plan http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread3971.shtml
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Comment #6 posted by Rev. Happy on August 06, 2000 at 10:38:32 PT
Anyone Got a great lawyer to push this issue?
Religious use has what all the other fronts against the war on marijuanna lack. Religious Use is already legal. If more pot smokers had faith in that, this issue would already be resolved.Do you want to be a member of an online congregation of stoners, hippie's, and freedom minded fellows? Try the Happyhouse Church's online congregation. Someday we will all be proud invoke our right to burn one with our minister!"Congress shall pass no law respecting the establishment of religion"
http://www.geocities.com/thc
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Comment #5 posted by kaptinemo on August 06, 2000 at 07:47:26 PT:
Relgious bigotry, again.
When I was younger, I visted a mosque as part of our religious studies in college. There were no pews or seats of any kind; only prayer rugs for the faithful. Does the lack of furniture signify that Islam is not a 'valid' or 'recognized' religion?Buddhist temples are equally lacking in the polished-wood genuflectory departments; are they any less a holy place than Notre Dame Cathedral?And as to sacraments: that they would see fit to share their sacrament as a gift to sick and dying people, most of whom have been abandoned by society as either being too much of a burden for it, or their lifestyles were considered unacceptable, shows who the 'holy people' *really* are.I think it's fair to say that Yeshua bar Yosef aka Jesus would certainly smile at their efforts.
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Comment #4 posted by Dan B on August 05, 2000 at 21:44:02 PT:
What a crock!
--"They basically claimed a 'sacrament' defense," Downum said. "But there's no provision in the law that I'm aware of that gives a church any sacramental right to grow marijuana or distribute marijuana. They've got us confused, to some extent. But what they're putting forward is not, in my opinion, listed as an exemption under Proposition 215." Wow! This guy is the sheriff, and he has never read the Constitution of the United States? Hey sheriff, see that there First Amendment? Maybe that will clear up your "confusion" about the rights of religious groups in this country. They don't need an exemption under Prop. 215; they shouldn't need an exemption under any law. They are a church, and unless one of their sacraments involves harming people or taking people's stuff, they are to be protected under the authority of the U. S. Constitution. Then again, the sheriff and his ilk have done their level best to destroy not only the First Amendment, but virtually the entire Bill of Rights in the name of their sacred Holy War on (Some) Drugs.
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Comment #3 posted by Symmetric on August 05, 2000 at 18:52:45 PT
religious banter...
this really gives new meaning to the phrase "our lord most high".
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Comment #2 posted by freedom fighter on August 05, 2000 at 14:53:15 PT
"numerous complaints" 
What was wrong with these plants?I fail to see the logic in it. Whom did the plants hurt or harm anybody? Did someone got hurt or killed because they "Saw" the green plants? More importantly, it is a church! If I cannot pray with my plants, who else can ?
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Comment #1 posted by dankhank on August 05, 2000 at 14:05:30 PT:
what????
A second search warrant was served at a second building on the property, which was the church, and deputies found 67 growing plants. "That was designated as the church," Downum said. "But all that was inside was a set of drums and a bunch of marijuana plants. There were no pews or seats." So ... no pews or seats means no church?Horse Hocky Mr. Downum They have everything to praise God with right there ...
HEMP n STUFF
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