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MODESTO — Outdoor marijuana-growing season has come to a close. But, police say, they will deal with a nearly equal number of indoor operations in the coming months.
And both law enforcement and some growers are at odds over the state’s Compassionate Use Act and what constitutes personal use for medicinal reasons.
A chemical compound in medical marijuana has made headlines recently for its use by some families, including a Modesto father, to treat a severe seizure disorder in their young children.
But police say the majority of people who grow marijuana have criminal histories, exploit the law to get high and make a buck, and that their actions often lead to more serious and violent crimes.
From July to September, Modesto Police Department’s Narcotics Enforcement Team, also known as MNET, conducted 55 searches and arrested 66 people. Police seized 26 guns and nearly 19,000 pounds of marijuana, said Chief Galen Carroll.
Most were arrested on suspicion of cultivating marijuana and possession of marijuana for sale; both come with maximum jail sentences of three years.
Despite the risks, one person arrested in August on drug charges for the fourth time in as many years said he wants to continue to grow medical marijuana for people who come to him with ailments ranging from chronic pain to cancer.
Stephen Boski, 41, operates a collective called The Healing Connection in Modesto. (Watch video of Boski describing CBD)
He said he primarily grows a strain of marijuana with a high concentration of cannabidiol, or CBD, a non-psychoactive compound that some research suggests helps treat epilepsy and stop the spread of breast cancer. He also grows marijuana with a high THC content because he believes it has medicinal qualities as well.
A patent the federal government has held since 2001 for cannabinoids, including CBD, states that they are “found to have particular application as neuroprotectants, for example in limiting neurological damage following ischemic insults, such as stroke and trauma, or in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and HIV dementia.”
Jason David of Modesto has been one of its biggest proponents since he started administering it to his son Jayden in 2011 to treat Dravet syndrome, which causes intractable seizures.
Since then, David said, Jayden has gone from taking 22 prescription pills a day, including highly addictive sedatives, to two pills a day, plus three to four doses a day of CBD in the form of a tincture.
David said marijuana with a 20-to-1 ratio of CBD to THC has the medicinal qualities Jayden needs without the high. He said it is very hard to grow, and he gave Boski and four other people a clone of the strain of the plant with that ratio.
Boski said he sends samples to Pure Analytics in Santa Rosa, a cannabis-testing laboratory, to check the concentration before giving it to Jayden and other children.
From the marijuana buds, Boski uses a medical-grade alcohol, olive oil or slow-heating process to extract concentrated cannabis in the form of an oil or tincture.
Raided by MNET
Before harvesting a marijuana strain at the end of August called AC/DC, which Boski said has some of the highest levels of CBD he’s seen, his home was raided by MNET.
Officers found more than 100 marijuana plants growing both indoors and outdoors, about 8 pounds of dried marijuana and more than $7,500 in cash. Boski was charged with cultivating marijuana and possession of marijuana for sale.
He also was arrested twice last year and once in 2009 on similar charges. Last year he was found with a .22-caliber rifle, which he isn’t supposed to have because he is a convicted felon. Boski said the gun belonged to an ex-girlfriend.
“In my opinion, they are just trying to bankrupt me so I’ll just stop doing it,” Boski said. “I can understand if I lived a lavish lifestyle and drove a $100,000 car. I live comfortably, pay my bills and pay taxes, and I am happy with that.”
Because he faces charges, Boski wouldn’t say how much he charged patients or how much he profits from the collective.
Modesto police wouldn’t comment about Boski’s case specifically, but MNET Sgt. Kelly Rea said he’s arrested marijuana growers who are reporting $250,000 incomes to the IRS.
“Many times, growers are paid about $1,000 a pound for finished product by dispensaries and other groups,” said Carroll. “California bud sells for $4,000 a pound out of the state, so we have a lot of people coming in to buy.”
Rea thinks concentrating cannabis like oil or any other form is akin to extracting ephedrine and pseudoephedrine from cold medicine to make methamphetamine. He said conducting chemical experiments at home and giving the product to people who might mix it with prescription medication without the guidance of a pharmacist is reckless.
All David sees is results.
He said before Jayden started using CBD, he had one or two grand mal seizures a day that lasted up to 90 minutes.
“Anything over five minutes causes brain damage,” he said.
In the past six months, David said, Jayden has only had three grand mal seizures lasting about two minutes each.
Jayden can now run around on the playground with his classmates, whereas in the past he’d remain “drugged out of his mind from the pills and strapped into a wheelchair.”
David said he doesn’t consider himself an advocate for medical marijuana, but for his son. Since Boski’s last arrest, David said he has had trouble finding medical marijuana with the proper CBD ratio.
“It’s not about partying and smoking weed. This is a life-and-death situation,” he said. “It is inhumane not to give the child medication that can save their lives.”
Modesto police Lt. Craig Gundlach said the CBD-to-THC ratio makes no difference for officers determining the legality of a marijuana grow.
“It’s impossible to tell the difference between the two plants, but either way, the law does not differentiate,” he said. “We make our decision based on whether they are in compliance with the Compassionate Use Act.”
Rea said his unit is driven by citizen complaints, the vast majority of which are about marijuana. Even at the end of the outdoor season last month, Rea said, 20 people called the drug hotline during a two-week period to report marijuana grows. Two people called to report activity related to methamphetamine.
The smell is obvious, and living nearby scares neighbors. Carroll said 12 percent of home-invasion robberies are linked to marijuana grows, and Modesto police have investigated many that involve the wrong person being targeted.
Law is unclear
One thing law enforcement and medical marijuana advocates can agree on is that there is far too much gray area in the law.
Much of what constitutes personal use is left to the discretion of the officer. Rea said he and his team will question suspects about how much they smoke a day.
A gram a day is reasonable, Rea said. That’s less than a pound of marijuana a year. But he said some people tell him they consume an ounce a day, or about 22 pounds a year – and that’s impossible, he said. A gram is roughly equivalent to the weight of a paper clip, or approximately one-twenty-eighth of an ounce.
Modesto police walked away from four homes where marijuana was grown this summer because officers determined the amount was realistic for medical use.
What should happen with the Compassionate Use Act depends on whom you ask. Rea said marijuana should again be outlawed altogether.
“I’m a realist; marijuana is a starter drug for kids and other people,” he said. “Ninety percent of the people using medical marijuana are using it to get high.”
Boski agrees but said he and people like Jayden are not among the 90 percent.
Since the Davids appeared on a CNN documentary called “Weed,” in which Jason David discussed his experience with CBD, Boski said he has received thousands of calls and emails from parents around the world who are interested in the drug.
“The hardest part – regardless of the arrests, the financial hit, going to court – the hardest part has been to call the parents of these children and tell them I couldn’t help them,” he said. “I’m taking a lot of risk. I could be facing time, but I can’t give up.”
Read more here: http://www.modbee.com/2013/11/02/3009028/marijuana-crops-move-indoors.html#storylink=cpy
And both law enforcement and some growers are at odds over the state’s Compassionate Use Act and what constitutes personal use for medicinal reasons.
A chemical compound in medical marijuana has made headlines recently for its use by some families, including a Modesto father, to treat a severe seizure disorder in their young children.
But police say the majority of people who grow marijuana have criminal histories, exploit the law to get high and make a buck, and that their actions often lead to more serious and violent crimes.
From July to September, Modesto Police Department’s Narcotics Enforcement Team, also known as MNET, conducted 55 searches and arrested 66 people. Police seized 26 guns and nearly 19,000 pounds of marijuana, said Chief Galen Carroll.
Most were arrested on suspicion of cultivating marijuana and possession of marijuana for sale; both come with maximum jail sentences of three years.
Despite the risks, one person arrested in August on drug charges for the fourth time in as many years said he wants to continue to grow medical marijuana for people who come to him with ailments ranging from chronic pain to cancer.
Stephen Boski, 41, operates a collective called The Healing Connection in Modesto. (Watch video of Boski describing CBD)
He said he primarily grows a strain of marijuana with a high concentration of cannabidiol, or CBD, a non-psychoactive compound that some research suggests helps treat epilepsy and stop the spread of breast cancer. He also grows marijuana with a high THC content because he believes it has medicinal qualities as well.
A patent the federal government has held since 2001 for cannabinoids, including CBD, states that they are “found to have particular application as neuroprotectants, for example in limiting neurological damage following ischemic insults, such as stroke and trauma, or in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and HIV dementia.”
Jason David of Modesto has been one of its biggest proponents since he started administering it to his son Jayden in 2011 to treat Dravet syndrome, which causes intractable seizures.
Since then, David said, Jayden has gone from taking 22 prescription pills a day, including highly addictive sedatives, to two pills a day, plus three to four doses a day of CBD in the form of a tincture.
David said marijuana with a 20-to-1 ratio of CBD to THC has the medicinal qualities Jayden needs without the high. He said it is very hard to grow, and he gave Boski and four other people a clone of the strain of the plant with that ratio.
Boski said he sends samples to Pure Analytics in Santa Rosa, a cannabis-testing laboratory, to check the concentration before giving it to Jayden and other children.
From the marijuana buds, Boski uses a medical-grade alcohol, olive oil or slow-heating process to extract concentrated cannabis in the form of an oil or tincture.
Raided by MNET
Before harvesting a marijuana strain at the end of August called AC/DC, which Boski said has some of the highest levels of CBD he’s seen, his home was raided by MNET.
Officers found more than 100 marijuana plants growing both indoors and outdoors, about 8 pounds of dried marijuana and more than $7,500 in cash. Boski was charged with cultivating marijuana and possession of marijuana for sale.
He also was arrested twice last year and once in 2009 on similar charges. Last year he was found with a .22-caliber rifle, which he isn’t supposed to have because he is a convicted felon. Boski said the gun belonged to an ex-girlfriend.
“In my opinion, they are just trying to bankrupt me so I’ll just stop doing it,” Boski said. “I can understand if I lived a lavish lifestyle and drove a $100,000 car. I live comfortably, pay my bills and pay taxes, and I am happy with that.”
Because he faces charges, Boski wouldn’t say how much he charged patients or how much he profits from the collective.
Modesto police wouldn’t comment about Boski’s case specifically, but MNET Sgt. Kelly Rea said he’s arrested marijuana growers who are reporting $250,000 incomes to the IRS.
“Many times, growers are paid about $1,000 a pound for finished product by dispensaries and other groups,” said Carroll. “California bud sells for $4,000 a pound out of the state, so we have a lot of people coming in to buy.”
Rea thinks concentrating cannabis like oil or any other form is akin to extracting ephedrine and pseudoephedrine from cold medicine to make methamphetamine. He said conducting chemical experiments at home and giving the product to people who might mix it with prescription medication without the guidance of a pharmacist is reckless.
All David sees is results.
He said before Jayden started using CBD, he had one or two grand mal seizures a day that lasted up to 90 minutes.
“Anything over five minutes causes brain damage,” he said.
In the past six months, David said, Jayden has only had three grand mal seizures lasting about two minutes each.
Jayden can now run around on the playground with his classmates, whereas in the past he’d remain “drugged out of his mind from the pills and strapped into a wheelchair.”
David said he doesn’t consider himself an advocate for medical marijuana, but for his son. Since Boski’s last arrest, David said he has had trouble finding medical marijuana with the proper CBD ratio.
“It’s not about partying and smoking weed. This is a life-and-death situation,” he said. “It is inhumane not to give the child medication that can save their lives.”
Modesto police Lt. Craig Gundlach said the CBD-to-THC ratio makes no difference for officers determining the legality of a marijuana grow.
“It’s impossible to tell the difference between the two plants, but either way, the law does not differentiate,” he said. “We make our decision based on whether they are in compliance with the Compassionate Use Act.”
Rea said his unit is driven by citizen complaints, the vast majority of which are about marijuana. Even at the end of the outdoor season last month, Rea said, 20 people called the drug hotline during a two-week period to report marijuana grows. Two people called to report activity related to methamphetamine.
The smell is obvious, and living nearby scares neighbors. Carroll said 12 percent of home-invasion robberies are linked to marijuana grows, and Modesto police have investigated many that involve the wrong person being targeted.
Law is unclear
One thing law enforcement and medical marijuana advocates can agree on is that there is far too much gray area in the law.
Much of what constitutes personal use is left to the discretion of the officer. Rea said he and his team will question suspects about how much they smoke a day.
A gram a day is reasonable, Rea said. That’s less than a pound of marijuana a year. But he said some people tell him they consume an ounce a day, or about 22 pounds a year – and that’s impossible, he said. A gram is roughly equivalent to the weight of a paper clip, or approximately one-twenty-eighth of an ounce.
Modesto police walked away from four homes where marijuana was grown this summer because officers determined the amount was realistic for medical use.
What should happen with the Compassionate Use Act depends on whom you ask. Rea said marijuana should again be outlawed altogether.
“I’m a realist; marijuana is a starter drug for kids and other people,” he said. “Ninety percent of the people using medical marijuana are using it to get high.”
Boski agrees but said he and people like Jayden are not among the 90 percent.
Since the Davids appeared on a CNN documentary called “Weed,” in which Jason David discussed his experience with CBD, Boski said he has received thousands of calls and emails from parents around the world who are interested in the drug.
“The hardest part – regardless of the arrests, the financial hit, going to court – the hardest part has been to call the parents of these children and tell them I couldn’t help them,” he said. “I’m taking a lot of risk. I could be facing time, but I can’t give up.”
Read more here: http://www.modbee.com/2013/11/02/3009028/marijuana-crops-move-indoors.html#storylink=cpy
