cannabisnews.com: Pot Club's Leader Calls Self Caregiver Pot Club's Leader Calls Self Caregiver Posted by FoM on April 10, 2001 at 08:59:57 PT By Clark Mason, Press Democrat Source: Press Democrat The head of a medical marijuana buyers' club testified at his own trial Monday about his purchases of marijuana for more than 1,200 patients who considered him their caregiver.Kenneth E. Hayes described how he bought from marijuana growers, or "vendors," who were assigned secret code names, and how a narcotics officer misinterpreted scraps of papers from those transactions to conclude he was selling marijuana on the black market. "He was wrong," Hayes said, explaining that the records represented purchases he made on consignment for his medical marijuana patients, not pot he sold that was grown in his Petaluma garden.Sonoma County prosecutors are trying to convince a jury that Hayes, 33, and co-defendant Michael S. Foley, 34, are guilty of marijuana cultivation and possession for sale and were not just good Samaritans dispensing medicine to ill people under the 1996 state law allowing the use of medical marijuana.Hayes' King Road home and its 899-plant garden were raided in May of 1999. Deputies found more than 14 pounds of processed marijuana, a pound of hashish and a .22-caliber rifle with a mounted telescopic sight.During his three-hour testimony on Monday, Hayes several times struggled to contain his emotions as he spoke of medical marijuana patients who had died, and why he took over the financially struggling buyers' club in San Francisco in 1998, when it was two months behind on rent.Hayes said he had a vision of providing social services to the people with AIDS, HIV and other illnesses who went to the club -- not just dispensing medical marijuana. Some of the services included support groups, free dinners and soup to the mostly poor clientele.He said the club was open every day of the year, including Christmas, Thanksgiving and New Year's Day.Hayes' relationships with the growers underscored the vagaries of the state law, which permits use of medical marijuana but doesn't specify how it should be distributed. Hayes freely admitted he did not want much information about the growers he bought from, including their real names, because "what they were doing on their end was technically illegal."He said he marked up the cost of marijuana to help cover rent, staff costs and other expenses, something allowed by prior court decisions.Under questioning by defense attorney William Panzer, he detailed his contacts in San Francisco with neighborhood police officers, police captains, District Attorney Terence Hallinan, the Board of Supervisors and public health department employees, who visited and worked with the buyers' club to ensure the patients were legitimate.The club, known as Cannabis Helping Alleviate Medical Problems, or CHAMP, "flourished under my direction," Hayes said.Hayes, a nurse's assistant who previously worked with developmentally disabled and Alzheimer's patients, said the benefits of medical marijuana first became apparent to him when he saw an AIDS patient use it to suppress uncontrolled vomiting.Shortly afterward, Hayes started working with the Marin Alliance for Medical Marijuana. Hayes, who said he uses medical marijuana himself for a congenital hip problem, was growing 100 plants at his Fairfax home to supply the cooperative when police called on him in November 1997. He said some of the plants in the greenhouse were 8 feet tall, larger than those seized in the Petaluma raid, but Fairfax police did not take them and allowed him to continue growing.On Monday, Hayes read a letter to the jury from former Fairfax Police Chief Jim Anderson indicating he should get a use permit for his plants, but there would be no criminal prosecution."It reaffirmed my belief that what I was doing was legal," Hayes said.Sonoma County prosecutor Carla Claeys, who is expected to begin cross-examining Hayes today, sought to keep out the testimony about the Fairfax marijuana garden, saying each county offers different guidelines about medical marijuana cultivation. She declined comment about Hayes' testimony at the end of Monday's court session.Claeys also got permission from Judge Robert Boyd to question Hayes about "unexplained income," $4,000 in cash that was found in his vehicle when he was stopped in June 1999, the month after the Petaluma bust.Panzer said the money represented attorney's fees Hayes had collected to pay for his defense.Note: Petaluma man takes stand to defend against drug charges.You can reach Staff Writer Clark Mason at: cmason pressdemocrat.comSource: Press Democrat, The (CA) Author: Clark Mason, The Press DemocratPublished: April 10, 2001Copyright: 2001 The Press Democrat Contact: letters pressdemo.com Website: http://www.pressdemo.com/ Related Articles & Web Site:C.H.A.M.P.http://www.champsf.org/Hallinan Takes The Stand for Medical Pot Grower http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread9224.shtmlHallinan Testifies At Medical Pot Growers' Trial http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread9184.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #1 posted by Cuzn Buzz on April 10, 2001 at 09:19:34 PT: Show Me The Money! So what if he had $4,000 in his car.I have 500 bux in my old pickup in case I need it sometime.Perfectly legal, earned and taxed, I'll bet a pig would want to know where it came from if I got pulled over (not likely).I'll bet if my only answer was "from the u.s. mint" I'd get hauled off to jail on contempt of cop charges, and the money would get taken as contraband.There is no law saying you can't have money.END THE WAR ON FREEDOM NOW! [ Post Comment ] Post Comment Name: Optional Password: E-Mail: Subject: Comment: [Please refrain from using profanity in your message] Link URL: Link Title: