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Cannabis Yields And Dosage

Cannabis Yields And Dosage is the authoritative study of the science and legalities of calculating medical marijuana. By Chris Conrad

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Image	Name	Mini-bio
	Brian Peter Daniels 18707-086 Send Email	On July 25th, 1988, Brian Daniels was arrested in Switzerland, where he was undergoing treatment for a severe, long-term burn injury. He was charged with bringing nearly 200 tons of high-grade marijuana from Thailand and Laos into the United States. The case had begun earlier that year, when an oil-supply vessel containing 72 tons of marijuana was raided by the Coast Guard in the waters along Washington state. In exchange for reduced charges, the operators of that vessel provided testimony against Daniels, alleging him to be the mastermind of that particular venture, in addition to several others during a four-year time span. Daniels pled guilty to two counts of conspiracy to import and distribute marijuana and one count of operating a continuing criminal enterprise. He has been incarcerated ever since, most currently in Taft, California, and is scheduled to be released in 2010. BRIAN PETER DANIELS 18707-086 FCI TERMINAL ISLAND FEDERAL CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION PO BOX 3007 SAN PEDRO, CA 90731
	David Davidson X-4001338 Send Email	David Davidson and his partner Cynthia Blake were raided by Tehama County Sheriffs in July 2003, when officers seized the medical marijuana gardens at their homes in Oakland and Red Bluff, CA. The pair was arrested and charged with cultivation and possession for sale, in spite of claims that they were legitimate caregivers under California law. The plant count was soon the subject of contentious dispute -- the number varied between 36 and 1803, depending on which source was asked. This matter was going to be sorted out in court in Tehama County, but the plan to prosecute the pair was diverted from local hands and onto the desks of federal authorities in January 2004. During a hearing in a Tehama County courtroom, Davidson and Blake were told by the Deputy District Attorney that charges against them would be dropped...but the prospect of vindication quickly turned into a nightmare as the two defendants were swept away from their attorneys and into federal custody. By the time they bailed out of jail, the harsh realities of federal prosecution had begun to settle in. Davidson subsequently fled, and Blake stayed to answer to the charges that threatened to land her in prison for decades. After being offered leniency in exchange for information against her partner, Blake agreed to a plea deal that only got her time behind bars whittled down a measly 18 months. Shortly thereafter, Davidson was captured in New Mexico and brought to Sacramento County Jail, where he is being held as he awaits prosecution. He now faces charges for evading authorities, in addition to his original marijuana-related counts. David Davidson X-4001338 Sacramento County Main Jail 651 I Street 4-W-112 Sacramento CA 95814
	David Oakley Harde 16536-097 Send Email	A pillar of his northern California community, Dave Harde was the very picture of an upstanding citizen. He kept a nice home with his wife and their two sons, and he also ran a natural foods store that he stocked daily with fresh salad greens from his own personal garden. In fact, Harde was an instrumental player in the formation of California's organic farming standards, and he brought this experience to his service on the county fair board. He cared about the environment enough to install solar-power cells to run his store, and he cared about sick people enough to use his agricultural skills to manage a small collective garden for local medical marijuana patients. When he was raided, the number of plants in his garden tipped just over the 100 mark, subjecting Harde to additional penalties at the hands of prosecutors. He ultimately accepted a plea deal in Sacramento federal court, troubled by the realization that this move would deprive him of his voting rights. In December 2006, Harde was sentenced to 30 months in prison and ordered to surrender shortly after the new year. He is currently serving his sentence in Lompoc, CA, and is scheduled for release in 2009. David Oakley Harde CCM SACRAMENTO COMMUNITY CORRECTIONS OFFICE 501 I STREET, SUITE 9-400 SACRAMENTO, CA 95814
	Dustin Robert Costa 62406-097 Send Email	No one has motivated activist sensibilities of central California like Dustin Costa. A former Marine and union leader, Costa brought a wealth of organizing skills and experience to the advocacy work he did on behalf of the medical marijuana movement. From his base near Merced, California, he led a group of nearly 300 volunteers on actions like citizen lobbying, protesting at important court hearings, and engineering community improvement efforts like graffiti removal. Costa was initially prosecuted on the state level for his cultivation of a collective garden of nearly 900 plants. After nearly 20 court appearances, however, local authorities handed the case over to the U.S. Attorney and the prosecution began all over again on the federal level. Costa went to jury trial in November 2006 and was found guilty on charges of the manufacture of marijuana, possession with the intent to distribute, and possession of a firearm. He has been incarcerated since his federal indictment, and is currently serving time in Big Spring, Texas. Unless he wins his current appeal, Costa is expected to be imprisoned until 2018. Dustin Robert Costa 62406-097 FCI Big Spring 1900 Simler Avenue Big Spring TX 79720
	JAMES DALE HOLLAND 62466-097 Send Email	James Holland was arrested during a September 2005 raid of his medical marijuana dispensary -- the Free and Easy Cooperative in Bakersfield, California. The bust involved a wide assortment of local and federal agencies, including the Kern County Sheriff's Department, the Bakersfield Police department, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the U.S. Attorney's Office, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. In addition to the federal charges related to his dispensary, Holland also faced counts stemming from the illegal possession of firearms that were found during the raid. Held in Fresno County Jail during the course of his prosecution, Holland eventually decided to accept a plea deal that offered him a nine-year prison sentence. Although his patients described him as a friendly, affable man, only two supporters were present for Holland's sentencing on February 12th, 2007. Holland is currently incarcerated in Herlong, CA. JAMES DALE HOLLAND 62466-097 FEDERAL CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION P.O. BOX 800 HERLONG, CA 96113
	Jeffre Sanderson 16648-097 Send Email	Plumas County Sheriff's deputies had been looking for something else when they inadvertently stumbled upon Reverend Jeffre Sanderson's farm in August 2006. Sanderson had been growing a 10-patient medical marijuana garden, in addition to other vegetable crops, but all of this was destroyed when the sheriffs promptly returned with a search warrant. They arrested Sanderson and his wife, Alice Wiegand, in spite of their status as legitimate medical marijuana patients in compliance with California law. Sanderson and Wiegand's 6-month old son was taken by Child Protective Services, and the couple was told the baby would be adopted out unless they overcame their "addiction to marijuana." Their case was quickly turned over to federal prosecutors, a move that denied them the medical defense they would have had in state court. Sanderson and Wiegand fought the charges nonetheless, bailing out of jail and eventually getting custody of their son back. But in October 2007 agents found evidence of continued cultivation in Sanderson's garden, landing him behind bars once again for a violation of his supervised release. The couple's son went right back into the hands of CPS, along with his newly-born baby brother. A month later, unable to get the court to recognize the legitimacy of their religious defense, Sanderson pled guilty to cultivating under 80kg of marijuana, while Wiegand made a guilty plea on conspiracy and agreed to forfeit the family's home. On April 18th, 2008, Jeffre Sanderson was sentenced to 24 months in federal prison, which he is currently serving. Wiegand was given six months but permitted to delay surrender until December 1st. This provision was granted in order to give the couple an opportunity to prevent their sons from being adopted out. The sentencing rulings for both Sanderson and Wiegand are currently on appeal. Sanderson, Jeffre 16648-097 FCI Herlong-Satellite Camp P.O. Box 800 Herlong, CA 96113
	Joe Kidwell 08559-033 Send Email	Completely disabled from a 1997 car accident, Joe Kidwell used marijuana to treat constant pain from his severe back injuries. While living in California, Kidwell got the doctor's recommendation required under state medical marijuana laws and began cultivating a small garden. After a bust and a trial in Los Angeles Superior Court, a jury found Kidwell guilty of cultivating 14 marijuana plants. The verdict came in spite of the presentation of multiple written doctor's recommendations and the fact that two doctors testified on Kidwell's behalf. He was sentenced to a term of probation that allowed him to smoke marijuana in his house but specifically forbade him from engaging in any marijuana advocacy. Done wrong in a state where medical marijuana was supposed to be legal, Kidwell looked for greener pastures elsewhere. He ended up in Kentucky, where his cultivation activities resulted in a federal indictment against him in August 2002. In his ensuing trial, Kidwell claims he was not permitted to represent himself, and that 17 of his 18 witness were denied an opportunity to testify. Kidwell is appealing the conviction that resulted from this trial, but the appeals process is proving to be a lengthy one. After years of delay, oral appeal arguments were heard in his case in November 2006, showing the first signs of continued progress towards justice. Meanwhile, Kidwell remains imprisoned in Kentucky, with release scheduled in 2011. Joe Kidwell 08559-033 FCI ASHLAND P.O. BOX 6001 Ashland KY 41105
	Keith Alden 96424-011 Send Email	Northern California patient Keith Alden is a true pioneer, having set precedent in court on many issues related to medical marijuana prosecutions. In February 2002, his cultivation case was touted as the first trial of a medical marijuana patient in San Francisco federal court since Californians passed their medical use law. Armed with an impressive knowledge of Constitutional law but disadvantaged by a deficiency of courtroom experience, Alden chose to represent himself during his own jury trial. He was unable to admit crucial evidence that his grow operation was a collective garden for legitimate medical marijuana patients, and the jury found him guilty of manufacturing over a hundred plants. Although initially placed on home detention, continuing to cultivate marijuana while on probation left Alden with a 44-month prison sentence. He served approximately half of that term before the 9th Circuit Court's ruling in Raich v. Gonzales (then Ashcroft v. Raich) set the stage for Alden to win a release while his case was on appeal. Freed on April Fool's Day in 2004, he was the first federal prisoner released on the precedent set by the appellate ruling in the Raich case. Weeks later, Alden managed to blaze yet another legal trail, becoming the first federal prisoner to be allowed medical marijuana pending appeal. Not long after the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling against Raich, however, Alden was ordered to serve out the remainder of his sentence. He was transferred to a federal institution in Oregon. Oct 26, 2007: Keith Alden has been released from Ft. Sheridan to a halfway house in San Francisco on Taylor Street close to Market Street. He may be there a couple of months before being further released to his own home in Windsor. His address is Keith Alden 111 Taylor Street San Francisco, CA 94102 I still put 96424-011 after his name, but it may not be necessary. He has been calling me on a payphone. He has an email address keithalden14@yahoo.com which he can access from a computer salon when he gets a break in the day. He has announced his candidacy for President as a Write-in on the Libertarian ballot. You may have helped with getting him the Sec of State info on filing one's candidacy. We can keep the paperwork down and bureaucracy by not accepting monetary donations, and we can keep it grassroots this way, asking for donations of talent, skills and volunteer time. Keith has been released to a halfway house. 111 Taylor St. San Francisco, CA 94102
	Luke Scarmazzo 1792599 / 0826384 Send Email	Beyond his local circle, the first impression of Luke Scarmazzo was that of a talented young rapper who brags about “incorporating dope” and conspicuously flips off the U.S. government in his debut music video. The release of the video came just a month before federal agents stormed into the California Healthcare Collective, a medical marijuana dispensary he ran with Ricardo Montes. Even though Luke claims that his music and his work at the CHC were separate, government prosecutors explicitly intertwined them by playing the music video during the federal trial. Defense attorneys protested that move, saying it was highly prejudicial for the jury to watch a video where Luke utters obscenities, portrays drug-dealing scenes and raps about threatened violence. In mid-May of 2008, the jury returned guilty verdicts for the manufacture of over a hundred marijuana plants, and also for various counts of possession with the intent to distribute. But the life-shattering conviction was on another count – running a continuing criminal enterprise – which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of twenty years and the possibility of life behind bars. Due to the severity of the penalties, Luke was immediately booked into Fresno County Jail, where he awaits a September 15th sentencing hearing. Displeased with the consequences, some of the jurors spoke out against the case afterwards, inspiring the defense attorneys to attempt a motion for retrial. If the motion fails, Luke’s last hope will be an appeal that’s based on the very thing that is said to have gotten him targeted by the government in the first place: his controversial rap video. Luke Scarmazzo 1792599 / 0826384 Fresno County Jail P.O. Box 872 Fresno CA 93712
	Monica Valencia 1835825 / 0827021 Send Email	In the beginning, Monica Valencia was just a grateful medical marijuana patient helping out with chores and errands at her local dispensary…but after she got hit with federal charges for her assistance, she stood alone in courageously refusing to testify against the dispensary’s operators. For a time, the California Healthcare Collective was the only medical marijuana dispensary open in the state’s Central Valley area, giving operators Luke Scarmazzo and Ricardo Montes a booming business. That all changed in September 2006, when a federal raid closed the facility down and left nine people indicted on federal charges. For her part, Monica faced a long list of felony counts, including money laundering, aiding and abetting, and conspiracy to distribute marijuana. She pled guilty to the latter charge, but she could not be convinced to testify against the former operators. Six of her co-defendants succumbed to this temptation in order to get better plea deals, and most of the government’s witnesses are expected to avoid prison time altogether. Monica, however, faces up to 20 years of incarceration and a million dollars in fines at sentencing. In the meantime, she has been taken into custody for violating the terms of her supervised release, which was easy to do – Judge Lawrence O’Neill declared that her bail rules were the strictest he’d ever issued to a defendant. Monica is likely to remain in Fresno County Jail until her sentencing hearing, which is scheduled for August 18th, 2008. Monica Valencia 1835825 / 0827021 Fresno County Jail P.O. Box 872 Fresno CA 93712
	Ricardo Montes 1792601 / 0826383 Send Email	After a car accident left him with both a disabling injury and a monetary settlement, destiny seemed clear for Ricardo Montes. He wanted to start a medical marijuana dispensary in his Central California hometown, so that patients like him wouldn’t have to drive hundreds of miles just to get their medication. He followed this dream, partnering with former football buddy Luke Scarmazzo and starting the California Healthcare Collective in Modesto. But after a September 2006 law enforcement raid resulted in severe criminal charges, the two men would become the first medical marijuana dispensary operators to go to trial in federal court. After two days of deliberating, however, their jury returned guilty verdicts for cultivation, possession with the intent to distribute, and continuing criminal enterprise. That last charge, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of twenty years in prison, required both defendants to be jailed upon conviction. This remand tore Ricardo away from his four-year-old daughter on her birthday, leaving his sobbing mother to collapse in the courtroom hallway and his pregnant wife to give birth to their first baby boy without him. Sentencing is scheduled for September 15th, but defense attorney Robert Forkner hasn’t given up. He’s hard at work preparing a motion for a new trial, which may make all the difference between Ricardo living in the free world and him spending a lifetime behind bars. Ricardo Ruiz Montes 1792601 / 0826383 Fresno County Jail P.O. Box 872 Fresno CA 93712
	Sheldon Webber P00030997 / 0710701 Send Email	Life for patient Sheldon Webber has been a dizzying series of ups and downs these past few years. Things appeared to be at their lowest in the summer of 2005, when he lost his Mississippi home to the destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina. But soon, things were looking up again. California was a land of old acquaintances, and Webber found a place to stay in the home of long-time friend John Berchielli. California was also a land where he could get legal approval for medical cannabis, and he promptly did so. Things were looking up, but in February 2006, they came crashing down again. Berchielli was arrested by local authorities for a garden of approximately 1300 marijuana clones that he had been growing to supply a Sacramento medical marijuana dispensary, and Webber was also charged for helping to tend the garden. The Sacramento District Attorney claimed the plant number exceeded the state?s medical marijuana protections, and the two defendants were found guilty during jury trial. After the disappointing verdict, however, the judge showed leniency ? he gave Berchielli a sentence to be served under house arrest, and let Webber off on time already served. Nonetheless, Webber remains in custody until the resolution of separate charges in Placer County, CA. Webber, Sheldon Arnold P00030997 / 0710701 c/o Placer Co Jail 2775 Richardson Drive Auburn, CA 95603
	Stephanie Landa 09247-800 Send Email	The year was 2002. The place was San Francisco, a city that publicly declared itself a "sanctuary" for medical marijuana. Patient and caregiver Stephanie Landa had moved from southern California to follow that promise of sanctuary, hoping to legally grow a collective garden of various strains of medicinal cannabis. Along with partners Tom Kikuchi and Kevin Gage, Landa claims she had secured specific approval from the San Francisco Police Department for the cultivation. According to Landa, an SFPD captain had even advised her on where to locate the grow operation -- close to police headquarters, for added safety. The advice began to look sinister when local officers raided the warehouse a few months afterwards, although the SFPD ultimately released the three partners without charges. When the trio was indicted by the U.S. Attorney just weeks later, however, the move appeared to be a matter of local law enforcement handing a case over to the federal government for prosecution. During the resulting court proceedings, a disparity in the plant count became an important determining factor. Although expert witness Chris Conrad had counted only 880 "rootballs" in the evidence, Landa and her co-defendants were charged with cultivating a total of 1245 plants. Now facing mandatory minimum sentences of 10 years each for exceeding the 1000 plant mark, the three co-defendants all accepted plea deals. Landa and Gage were sentenced to 41 months, while Kikuchi received the somewhat lighter sentence of 37 months. Both male defendants began serving their sentences right away, but Landa was permitted to delay her incarceration in order to care for the minor child she shared with Kikuchi. After a well-attended ceremony marking her surrender, Landa began serving her sentence in January 2007. She is currently at a federal prison camp in Dublin, California, and hopes to be released at the very end of 2008. Stephanie Landa 09247-800 FCI DUBLIN SATELLITE CAMP 5675 8th Street, Camp Parks Dublin CA 94568 www.stephanielanda.com
	Thunder Rector 1690398 Send Email	Thunder Rector?s trouble began on June 30th, 2005, when agents searched his home in Modesto, CA, and confiscated approximately 233 pounds of marijuana. The majority of this amount was stems and leaves, which Rector considered unusable, but the U.S. Attorney charged him with it nonetheless. In state court, he might have had the protection of California?s medical marijuana laws, but his status as a qualified patient had no bearing in federal court. His religious defense also fell flat, and the prosecution went forward in spite of hearings about his religious use. In April 2007, the defense counsel worked out a deal with the federal prosecutor, setting the amount of marijuana seized at less than 100 kilograms. Rector pled guilty to possessing this amount, and at a hearing in October 2007, convinced the judge to sentence him below the mandatory minimum. Rector was given a 24-month sentence, which he would begin serving on May 1st, 2008, after helping his father recover from triple-bypass heart surgery. However, Thunder was taken back into custody in November 2007 for failing a court-ordered drug test, and he is currently being held here: THUNDER RECTOR 62356-097 USP LOMPOC 3901 KLEIN BLVD LOMPOC, CA 93436
	Tom Kikuchi 92479-011 Send Email	The history of Tom Kikuchi?s case goes back to July 2002, when he and Stephanie Landa were both arrested for their role in a medical marijuana grow operation in San Francisco. The pair maintains that they were given the blessing of the San Francisco Police Department, who later raided the operation and turned the case over to the U.S. Attorney for prosecution. This change of jurisdiction put the defendants in greater peril, since the federal government refuses to recognize state laws permitting medical marijuana. Stripped of their defense and facing a trial that could have resulted in life behind bars, Kikuchi and Landa eventually pled guilty to a single charge of maintaining a place for the manufacture of a controlled substance. Kikuchi went immediately into custody, and served out his 37-month sentence at a prison camp. But an incident in May 2007 landed him back behind bars, as prosecutors alleged he violated the terms of his supervised release due to his connection to a Los Angeles area grow house. Although the links between Kikuchi and the house were purely circumstantial, Judge William Alsup sentenced Kikuchi to the maximum sentence of two years in prison for violating his probation. He remains in custody, awaiting a state trial in Los Angeles over the grow house bust. Thomas Kikuchi #92479-011 Federal Correctional Institution P.O. Box 9000 Safford AZ 85548
	Vernon Lavell Rylee 16059-097 Send Email	The case of Vernon Rylee shows the cold reality that no one is too sick to be imprisoned by the federal government. A northern California medical marijuana patient and caregiver, Rylee was initially arrested in August 2003 on charges of cultivating over a thousand marijuana plants. After replanting his garden the following year, the bust repeated itself, but this time with federal agents confiscating the plants. In October 2005, the Trinity County District Attorney dismissed the state charges against Rylee and promptly handed the case over to the U.S. Attorney for prosecution. Pending trial in his federal case, Rylee was held at the Sacramento County Jail, where the wheelchair-bound inmate claims he was continually deprived of prescription medications for diabetes, blood pressure and pain from a crippling back injury. His health deteriorated so severely that he ended up being transferred to a medical facility in Texas for intensive care in early 2006, around which time he accepted a plea deal offered by the prosecution. Following sentencing, Rylee was transferred to a federal institution in Oregon, where he is scheduled to be incarcerated until 2010. According to his daughter, Rylee is unable to read or write very well, but he appreciates receiving mail and supporters are encouraged to send messages nonetheless. Vernon Lavell Rylee 16059-097 FCI SHERIDAN P.O. BOX 5000 Sheridan OR 97378

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