Compassionate caregiver, Roger Mentch, was arrested and jailed in August of last year--again for cultivating and selling medical marijuana through his California-registered medical marijuana dispensary, the Hemporium, to medical marijuana patients. He reports he was held for 7 days in jail on a probation violation hold. Not satisfied, the Marijuana Enforcement Team then went to a second judge (Almquist) and got a search warrant, tore up his entire crop, and destroyed it.

Said Mentch, "they wiped my computer, seized my phone, and tried to destroy my life." Mentch is also an in-home caregiver for two patients, including one who is suffering from advanced cancer. He has kept a low profile on this case, hoping it would be dismissed. At a hearing last Wednesday (August 9), the D.A. declined to do that.

This arrest was made in spite of Judge Samuel Stevens' determination in May 2005 that Mentch had the legal right to operate the Hemporium while on probation. Mentch is still appealing his sentence from the intial trial. His trial for the current charges is scheduled for October and Stevens is apparently allowing a caregiver defense which he had refused him during the initial trial.

A Medical Marijuana Question and Answer Session with Attorney Ben Rice and a local ACLU Drug War representative was held on August 17th in the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors chamber, 701 Ocean St., Room 525. Read more