California, Monterey

[palmspringsbum]

SALINAS MAN SAYS SEIZED POT PLANTS WERE MEDICAL

11/01/06 9:10 PST
SALINAS (BCN)
CBS Channel 5

In the latest in a series of marijuana busts in Monterey County and statewide, sheriff's deputies report seizing 27 pot plants from the residence of a Salinas man who claimed he and his mother use the cultivated drug for medical purposes.

The plants with a potential value of $81,000, as well as more than 18 ounces of marijuana, were taken from a Salinas mobile home bedroom and adjoining storage shed on El Camino Real near Espinosa Road Tuesday morning, the Sheriff's Office reports.

The man said he and his mom had a doctor's recommendation and could cultivate the plants as allowed under the state Compassionate Use Act of 1996, according to the Sheriff's Office. And while the Sheriff's Office reports that the number of plants he had surpasses what that law permits, deputies decided to pass the case to the district attorney's office without making an arrest. Deputies have not been able to verify the man's claims.

On Sept. 28, marijuana with a potential street value of more than $22 million was seized in the Los Padres National Forest in Monterey County, according to the Sheriff's Office. On Aug. 16, deputies seized marijuana plants growing near the Salinas River that would have been worth at least $17 million when mature.

California Attorney General Bill Lockyer announced Monday that the state Department of Justice's Campaign Against Marijuana Planting set a new record with the seizure of nearly 1.7 million plants during the 2006 season.