Growing marijuana can be a treacherous business. While pot patches are about as common in NoCal as coals are in Newcastle, it’s not quite like producing other cash crops. You don’t see too many people pulling over to pilfer ears of corn by the side of the road in Iowa or wheat in Kansas. But locoweed seems to have a rather more devoted following. A grower has got to keep a close eye on things if he doesn’t want to suffer, um, chronic problems with inventory shrinkage. And that may have been all Dan Garrison was trying to do last October when a Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Department officer was called to his home in – wait for it – Weed, California responding to reports of shots fired.

Garrison claimed at the time that he’d been taking incoming rounds from pot rustlers and was just returning fire. But as reported by mtshastanews.com, deputies testified on Thursday that no real evidence of meg marauders was found.

According to (Sgt. Karl) Houtman, when he arrived at the scene at dusk, Garrison’s wife approached him. “She told me that people were shooting at her husband, and that he was shooting back,” said Houtman.

He stated that she pointed out a bullet hole at her home.

“It looked to me like a knothole. There was paint in it,” said Houtman.

Garrison was hit with a felony charge of discharging a firearm in a grossly negligent manner given that there are plenty of neighbors nearby. Superior Court Judge Donald Langford presided at the hearing.

Langford pointed out that Garrison does not have a criminal record.   “This is an interesting case. This is somewhat strange,” said Langford.

He commented, “Any time a firearm is discharged in a residential area, it is a danger to everyone in the neighborhood.”

What the jurist didn’t find at all interesting, apparently, was the fact that Garrison was growing weed in Weed. And yes, it really is still a crime in California. According to the Dona Juanita devotees at canorml.org who really oughta know,

Cultivation of any amount of marijuana is a felony under Health and Safety Code 11358. People who grow for personal use are eligible for diversion under Penal Code 1000 so long as there is no evidence of intent to sell. There are no fixed plant number limits to personal use cultivation.

Since Langford concluded that there wasn’t any evidence that Garrison wasn’t really aiming at anyone in particular, he reduced the charge to a misdemeanor and commented, “There are more questions unanswered than answered.”  Ya think, yer honor?

Garrison’s attorney wanted to enter a plea on his client’s behalf (the accused wasn’t present for the hearing, no doubt waiting at home for an urgent Domino’s delivery) and indicated he’d request a sentence of three years of probation for the misdemeanor charge. Judge Langford averred that while it’s awfully nit-picky, he thought the defendant really should be present when the plea is entered and he passes judgement. Stay tuned.

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24 COMMENTS

  1. It is interesting to watch the evolution of the legal system’s approach to the quasi-legalization of marijuana. It begins to look a lot like the country’s de facto repeal of Prohibition in the 1920s. Before the 18th Amendment was repealed, juries were refusing to convict anyone accused of violating the anti-booze laws. Now we see a judge ignoring the cultivation of marijuana – probably because he and the DA knew it was a waste of time to try someone for that offense in California, since the jury would probably deadlock.

    Wonder when we will wake up to the reality that the drug laws have had exactly the same effect as Prohibition: enriching the criminal cartels and distributors, putting lots of minor offenders in jail, corrupting the legal system, and ignoring most of the Bill of Rights to enforce an unpoular law. And have any of the “moral prohibition” laws stopped the use of intoxicants? Are the ‘youts’ of America less likely to use marijuana now than they were before it was outlawed? Why don’t we de-criminalize it, and take 10% of the total costs of enforcement and put that into addiction treatment?

    Oh well, another wacko libertarian OFWG heard from, right?

    • “It is interesting to watch the evolution of the legal system’s approach to the quasi-legalization of marijuana. It begins to look a lot like the country’s de facto repeal of Prohibition in the 1920s. ”

      Maybe in California. In much of the rest of the country it’s business as usual.

      • Not at all. Massachusetts decriminalized as well and possession of an ounce or less is now a civil charge equivalent to a speeding ticket. A dozen or so states have passed laws protecting medical marijuana. Numerous cities have made marijuana possession to lowest police priority (Amherst did this prior to MA decriminalizing).

        The tide is turning. You can’t legislate morality and what anyone does in the privacy of their own home is nobody else’s fucking business.

    • “Wonder when we will wake up to the reality that the drug laws have had exactly the same effect as Prohibition: enriching the criminal cartels and distributors, putting lots of minor offenders in jail, corrupting the legal system, and ignoring most of the Bill of Rights to enforce an unpoular law.”

      They know that already. That’s the whole point.

  2. The Medicinal Marijuana Program established under Prop 215 allows for an affirmative defense to HSC 11358 if the cultivator is a liscensed medical marijuana user. Don’t know if this guy was or not… just FYI. Not that the “government” should be outlawing nature in the first place.

    Regardless, dude shouldn’t be shooting off rounds in his neighborhood.

  3. locoweed seems to have a rather more devoted following

    Nein, mein herr. Locoweed is a plant that produces swainsonine, which is highly toxic to livestock. Wackyweed is a plant that produces income, which is highly desirable to growers. One should not confuse locoweed with wackyweed. That would be like confusing hindu kush with hindu tush. I mean, really, have you ever tried smoking hindu tush?

    No need to thank me. It’s a crazy world and I’m here to help.

    • OK, I’ve been working for 9 hours straight and I came back with the same two bones to pick. “Nein, mein Herr.” But more critically, could you please substitute “confusing Cali pot for Cali twat” for what you wrote? Hindu tush. Jeez. The image. A smoking Hindu tush. It just gets worse.

  4. In the article, it says that the residences are only 50 to 70 feet apart. That’s some close living neighbors. How secret can this guys pot patch be???? And how could anyone “sneak” up to steal his pot? And he is certainly not safely handling firearms if he is shooting that close to neighboring houses. The p0lice mention that the house and surrounding area were messy, but with such small yards, how long could it take to do a pretty thorough search for evidence?

    • As noted above, California allows for the growing, possession and use of marijuana upon a doctor’s prescription. The law also allows “care givers” to groe and process the “evil weed.” Although there is a tremendous amount of litigation going on now (largely because the law allows pot dispensaries in conflict with the federal ban), grow plots and dispensaries have popped up all over the state. (Every counjty in the north state has at least one case pending on one or another aspect of the California law). As one might suspect, many med marijuana users do not have the facilities to grow their own supply, and so “communal” pot gardens show up regularly. These gardens are subject to raids by dealers looking to augment their supply, and there was one in my town (not too far from Weed) that did involve a self-defense shooting during a night time raid by miscreants. Sure there are still many illegal grows, but most of those are up in the mountains and are run by illegal immigrants tied to drug cartels.

      • According to some of the pointy-heads in MA and RI, those illegal immigrants are actually just undocumented aliens.

  6. If he got a real job instead of emulating Cheech and Chong he might have fewer things to worry or shoot about.

  7. Hmmmm…… in my neck of the woods, pot will still get you cuffed and stuffed on the spot. They fly helicopters looking for patches here in the Poconos. Maybe in Cali, the “prohibition” might be coming to an end, but here in PA, ol’ Eliot Ness style law enforcement is more the norm.

    • I’ll say. 30 days and a $500 biff for a doobie seems a bit harsh.

      Man, I’m glad I gave that sh!t up in the ’60s.

  8. Looks like this guy’s a stoned idiot (even if someone was shooting at him), but it is interesting to consider the self-defense ramifications of America’s (including Canada and Mexico) number one cash crop. We don’t fault the owner of a liquor store or pawn shop (where much of the merch is stolen) for keeping the gat behind the counter. The demon weed is de-facto legal in California and Oregon. Those with the medical marijuana card can get a CHL in Oregon. Rich folks with connections can maybe get a CHL in California, if they’re lucky.

    As far as local LE in CA, they know where their bread is buttered. We’re talking about a huge chunk of the tax base in Humbolt county, and probably Siskiyou County as well, never mind the campaign contributions. I doubt the sherriff of Harlan County, KY was doing much about the moonshine production in the 20s, either. “Well, Jethro up in Whiskey Holler was shootin’ at someone again…”

    • Why oh why do people photgraph themselves doing stupid reckless stuff? Doesn’t everyone know by now that if a photo is taken, it WILL end up on the internet?

  10. That’s not the only crop people will steal, going to my mother in laws place, you can spot the avocado orchards because of the chain link fences and barbed wire around them.

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