cannabisnews.com: Pot Grower May Lose Farm Only Crime was Caring Pot Grower May Lose Farm Only Crime was Caring Posted by CN Staff on April 23, 2007 at 06:54:39 PT By Leon Alligood, Staff Writer Source: Dickson Herald Tennessee -- Bernie Ellis is an unrepentant soul."I remain unashamed of what I was doing," he said on a recent afternoon, the first warm day since dogwood winter settled on the month of April. He sat on a deck at a West Meade home where he has been employed as a landscaper for several months. When lawmen raided his farm in August 2002, this man of medicine — a professional public health consultant who has worked for anti-substance abuse programs across the country — told officers he was growing marijuana for medical reasons. He also gave it to friends and acquaintances suffering from AIDS, cancer or chronic diseases.Now, with less than three weeks remaining on his 18-month halfway house sentence, Ellis is anxious to return to the 187 acres he's owned in the Fly community of northwestern Maury County for the past four decades. But he's not sure he'll get the chance.Federal prosecutors want to take away his farm under laws that let the government seize property used in the commission of a crime.He and his lawyer think that punishment is too harsh for the crime to which Ellis pleaded guilty. Yes, what he did was against the law, he says, but he wasn't dealing drugs for profit — he was helping relieve the pain of people who were dying and in severe pain.While his attorney fights Uncle Sam in the courts, a grass-roots group of Fly neighbors and friends from elsewhere are trying to help Ellis raise money so he can offer the government a settlement in return for not taking the farm. They're staging a benefit concert at Nashville's Belcourt Theatre for him this week."I have been obsessing about getting back to my own bed," Ellis said. A Discreet Mission Bernard Hopkins Ellis Jr. is clean-shaven, balding and slightly pudgy. He sees the world through oversized spectacles whose round frames are like spokeless bicycle wheels perched on his nose.He does not look like a stereotypical pot broker."I'm not," Ellis said.After graduating from Vanderbilt University in 1971, Ellis began his career in public health, working in several states and at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Md. In 1987 he joined Tennessee's first AIDS program. During that time, when many AIDS patients were "wasting away," he decided to grow marijuana, which some scientific studies have shown curbs nausea as well as reduces pain."I just made a decision," he said. He asked social workers who worked with AIDS patients to discreetly let the word out that he had marijuana to share. He eventually began using it himself to relieve the pain of fibromyalgia and degenerative joint disease. And he let his neighbors in the Fly community know his secret.Thankful for Gifts For many years, Ellis gave marijuana to numbers of very sick and dying people. "I gave it away. I never sold it," he said.One of the sick people he gave marijuana was Dottie, in 1995. That year the Middle Tennessee woman, who asked that her last name not be used, was diagnosed with ovarian cancer."I had radical surgery and was in great pain. The marijuana would help me on certain days when I didn't want narcotics. I asked my doctors about it and they said it wouldn't hurt," she said."Bernie's a good-hearted person. He loves to help people. I was a lucky girl."Another Middle Tennessee woman, Carolyn, said the marijuana Ellis gave her dying husband improved her husband's quality of life."It helped a whole lot. My husband could eat. He could go about his day like a normal day," said Carolyn, who also asked that her last name not be used."I think it's a terrible thing they're doing to Bernie. He's paid a pretty high price already so I don't see no use in them taking his home and farm." Rush To CondemnAmong the dozens of letters written in support of Ellis, federal Judge William J. "Joe" Haynes Jr., received one from Douglas Anglin, a professor at the Dave Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California at Los Angeles.When he wrote his letter, Anglin was approaching his 20th year of living with AIDS. He wrote that the marijuana he received "helped me reach this longevity."Ellis said he has always believed he was doing the right thing by making marijuana available to the sick and dying."Marijuana can help. It was very much a part of the pharmacopeia available in this country before the 1930s. My grandfather, who was a doctor in Mississippi, could prescribe cannabis. It was on his (medical) license," Ellis said."Now we have condemned it for any use, and by doing so have kept a lot of sick people from finding relief."The raid took place on a hot summer day, Aug. 28, 2002."It was one day after my birthday. It was a heck of a birthday present," Ellis said.Ellis Allowed Searches Court documents indicate Ellis cooperated with the lawmen and allowed them to search his home, vehicle and outbuildings. He eventually pleaded guilty to one count of growing more than 100 plants rather than go to trial."What they got from me would have helped two people, maybe three, for a year. That includes me in that number," Ellis said.According to Americans for Safe Access, an Oakland, Calif., group that advocates the use of medical marijuana, 300,000 people have reported to the group that they use the drug for relief from nausea and pain.Twelve states now allow patients with certain conditions to use marijuana. New Mexico is the latest, approving such a measure last week.A medical marijuana law has again been introduced in the Tennessee state legislature — but, as in previous years, it appears to have little chance of passing. Negotiations Under WayEllis pleaded guilty on Nov. 12, 2003. Haynes gave him four years on probation, including 18 months to be spent in a halfway house, and no fine.The judge initially denied prosecutors' request to turn the farm over to the government, but the U.S. attorney's office has continued to press its claim."This is something that happens when there's a charge involving a controlled substance," said Brent Hanafan, an assistant U.S. attorney.If the government and Ellis cannot reach a settlement, then the matter goes to trial, said Ellis' lawyer, Peter Strianse."The question would be whether it's appropriate for the government to take his farm as punishment for the amount of medical marijuana he was growing," said Strianse.But a settlement will be hard to come up with. Ellis, who once made six figures annually, is nearly $75,000 in debt, and the government has a lien on the farm, which is assessed for taxes at slightly more than $300,000.Despite all he has lost and could lose, Ellis is adamant that he broke no moral law, even though he may have stepped across man's law.The four people he was supplying with marijuana at the time of the raid — three with cancer and a transplant patient — have died. "Three of them died within a year. The fourth died the next year. Some of them tried to get marijuana from other places, but they told me they had to pay for it," he said.Whether he keeps his farm or loses it, Ellis said he might grow marijuana again, but not in Tennessee if the law does not protect the grower."I would hate to leave my home of 40 years to find a state that approved of what I was doing, but I would. From the compassionate perspective, anything that can be done to ease the pain and suffering to terminal cancer patients or HIV/AIDS patients, or MS patients, or people with chronic pain problems, we should."Complete Title: Pot Grower Who May Lose Farm Says His Only Crime was CaringSource: Dickson Herald, The (TN)Author: Leon Alligood, Staff WriterPublished: April 22, 2007Copyright: 2007 The Dickson Herald Contact: dhnews mtcngroup.comWebsite: http://www.dicksonherald.com/Related Article:Devil Weed - Huffington Posthttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread22841.shtmlCannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #48 posted by whig on April 25, 2007 at 19:07:41 PT ekim #41 Thank you. I don't mean to be antagonistic but I'm very impatient to get the help to patients that need it. I have relatives that are suffering from illnesses that cannabis can effectively treat, an uncle with Meniere's, an aunt with Parkinson's, and don't we all know people that need medicine? [ Post Comment ] Comment #47 posted by ekim on April 25, 2007 at 18:50:07 PT FoM yes i think it is about conscience its not just a man thing as there are many women that have been officers and speak out. [ Post Comment ] Comment #46 posted by FoM on April 25, 2007 at 12:00:59 PT Ekim I don't understand somethings. I think from my heart. I would never care to hear a policeman talk about anything. I think LEAP must be more of a man thing and being a woman it doesn't register with me. I believe in the conscience of people to bring change. [ Post Comment ] Comment #45 posted by ekim on April 25, 2007 at 11:41:49 PT yes FoM i agree Every Leap member i have read about is a former officer. As for money -- three hots and a cot is about it -- If it was not for Map they might well not even have a web site.It can not be easy for a former LEO to come out against the current policy - just look at how few reformers we have now willing to be active and go before the media.i will give it a rest -- as i do respect you enormously [ Post Comment ] Comment #44 posted by FoM on April 25, 2007 at 11:16:03 PT Just My Thoughts I don't know who would want to listen to police talk about drugs but that's just me. Police shouldn't have a say about changing laws I think. They should just do what the law says or quit their job. I believe if police want to talk about drug laws it should be done without any money from lobbyists. I only believe reformed people, if they labor from their heart, to try to right a terrible wrong. That's just my opinion. [ Post Comment ] Comment #43 posted by Hope on April 25, 2007 at 11:05:51 PT LEAP does care about medicinal use, I think. Any rational person would. (I remember reading that Howard grieves that he can't use cannabis to doctor Misty, his horse, because he beleives it would help her.)I appreciate Ekim keeping us up on what is going on with them. (Thank you, Ekim.)LEAP is helping. It's a huge help. I'm sure it is. [ Post Comment ] Comment #42 posted by ekim on April 25, 2007 at 10:17:18 PT ot but close US: Web: U.S. Border Patrol Bars Canadian Psychotherapist with Drug Research FarURL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n513/a09.html [ Post Comment ] Comment #41 posted by ekim on April 25, 2007 at 09:54:18 PT whig yes [ Post Comment ] Comment #40 posted by Genthirdday on April 25, 2007 at 08:00:31 PT LEAP I find that the information that ekim provides is very important and I thank him. Check out the LEAP blog.... Tony Ryan, a 36 year policeman.. "Later today...I'm appearing with local MJ proponents to protest my former department's callous disregard of the will of the people it serves." [Denver] Heartless Feds,Apparently Heartless City Cops, Too [ Post Comment ] Comment #39 posted by whig on April 24, 2007 at 23:34:37 PT ekim No quarrel necessary. All I'm asking for is some compassion for sick people. Shouldn't they be able to get cannabis upon a doctor's recommendation without having to legalize all drugs first?Simple yes or no will suffice. [ Post Comment ] Comment #38 posted by ekim on April 24, 2007 at 19:55:22 PT whig i have spent the past 15 years trying the best i can to show to others that Cannabis Prohibition is one of the most failed policies ever. we both are on the same road lets make the best of iti do not wish to quarrel -- [ Post Comment ] Comment #37 posted by FoM on April 24, 2007 at 19:31:03 PT Hope I was impressed with her riding when I saw it on tv. She has had the best teachers and probably has been riding since she was 6 or 7. They start young. I think if it's going to happen the horse bug bites right after we're born. I can't remember a time when I didn't love horses. [ Post Comment ] Comment #36 posted by FoM on April 24, 2007 at 19:06:37 PT Hope Thank you. I might just do that. [ Post Comment ] Comment #35 posted by Hope on April 24, 2007 at 19:06:06 PT Picture in comment 32 That is a better picture.Georgina appears to be very young, maybe eleven or twelve years old. That sure is a lot of horse for such a little girl, but it seems to be a winning combination...even in western riding and barrel racing, you see it often. I hope she gets through her riding career safely. [ Post Comment ] Comment #34 posted by Hope on April 24, 2007 at 18:58:09 PT Breaking easier... Indeed...and The ground's harder and the horses are taller than they used to be!You ought to visit your friend's barn. It would be fun just to be around the horses for a bit. [ Post Comment ] Comment #33 posted by FoM on April 24, 2007 at 16:32:29 PT Hope Being suspended in the air for a brief second is an experience to remember. I am very glad I spent so many years working with horses. An old friend called me. I taught her daughter about 20 years ago and she just got a thoroughbred race horse from a rescue organization. She is 60 and starting to ride again. She wants me to come up to the barn. I really am tempted to go but I'm afraid I would want to ride and I shouldn't do that because I break now real easy. LOL! [ Post Comment ] Comment #32 posted by FoM on April 24, 2007 at 15:18:43 PT Hope Here's a better picture of her horse.http://www.nhs.org/news/photos/andfamilyfestivalhostsshowjump.jpg [ Post Comment ] Comment #31 posted by FoM on April 24, 2007 at 15:14:50 PT Hope No you're right he has big ears. I must be going blind! I bet he hears really well! LOL! [ Post Comment ] Comment #30 posted by FoM on April 24, 2007 at 15:13:18 PT Hope You made me laugh. His ears aren't that big he has ear muffs on. LOL! [ Post Comment ] Comment #29 posted by Hope on April 24, 2007 at 14:44:09 PT Bloomberg's horse... I don't care for that one. It's a beautiful horse...and reeks power...but it's ears look so long in that picture. I couldn't help but think of a big old Missouri mule.That is a high jump. It's a dangerous sport, but ah...the flying. That split second when you seem to have overcome the pull of gravity. I felt it once, dancing. A friend experienced it in gymnastics. Horses can do it, too. One moment right at the top and before the descent.It's a wonderful feeling.(That's a brave little girl...Georgina.) [ Post Comment ] Comment #28 posted by FoM on April 24, 2007 at 13:28:09 PT Hope Just one more thing. Here's a picture of Mayor Bloomberg's daughter.http://www.nsinnovations.com/photogallery/Georgina%20Bloomberg%20on%20Nadia%20(3).jpg [ Post Comment ] Comment #27 posted by FoM on April 24, 2007 at 13:07:25 PT Hope Mares just aren't as good as stallions in high level performance because of their cycle and they are very tempermental. A good mare like her is worth her weight in gold. I watched a show on tv recently and Mayor Bloomberg's daughter won the class. The fences were very high. I can only imagine what her horse cost. Push button horses are really expensive and not common at all. [ Post Comment ] Comment #26 posted by Hope on April 24, 2007 at 12:42:28 PT embryo transfer I didn't know that. I was wondering about her ever being a brood mare. Well, that's just cool. She's can pass on her genetics and still perform.Horses are so fragile. I cannot imagine the added anxiety of having an animal worth that much money.She's a fine animal though, monetary value or not. A very fine animal. [ Post Comment ] Comment #25 posted by FoM on April 24, 2007 at 12:13:13 PT Hope Because she is a mare and a top performer she could make lots of babies by embryo transfer. They use a good brood mare to be the surrogate mother and the mare can keep performing. [ Post Comment ] Comment #24 posted by Hope on April 24, 2007 at 12:09:11 PT Ten Million Dollars? Is that right? Good grief! [ Post Comment ] Comment #23 posted by FoM on April 24, 2007 at 12:06:19 PT Hope Thank you. It is wonderful news. [ Post Comment ] Comment #22 posted by FoM on April 24, 2007 at 12:05:38 PT Hope She did show her own disapproval. That mare has to be worth I bet about $10,000,000. Horses are so obvious to people like you that have been around them. [ Post Comment ] Comment #21 posted by Hope on April 24, 2007 at 12:03:47 PT Yay!!!!!! I'm so thankful!That's wonderful news. [ Post Comment ] Comment #20 posted by FoM on April 24, 2007 at 12:02:56 PT OT: Good News We just got a call from the VA Hospital and the biopsy came back negative. What a wonderful day. [ Post Comment ] Comment #19 posted by Hope on April 24, 2007 at 12:01:31 PT She did feel good, too. She radiated health, soundness, and it's obvious she is the recipient of extraordinary care. [ Post Comment ] Comment #18 posted by Hope on April 24, 2007 at 11:57:20 PT I could see that and thought about it. "... feeling good and start snorting and high tailing it around a pasture when free."She really seemed to enjoy it.When she made that one little mistake, she wrung her tail...I look at that like a horse's "frown". She calmed herself quickly. She's pretty much a perfectionist while she's at, it looks like. What a gorgeous animal. [ Post Comment ] Comment #17 posted by FoM on April 24, 2007 at 11:52:52 PT whig Yes it is. You need to know what the horse will do before you ask them to do it. Horses anticipate and it is hard to make them learn without doing it without being told. I had a horse that I worked so hard on a transition that he began to anticipate it before I even asked him. I had to almost untrain him then. [ Post Comment ] Comment #16 posted by whig on April 24, 2007 at 11:51:22 PT FoM We were visiting at my sister-in-law's and I was sitting there thinking something about wanting to pet the cat and it jumped into my lap. They just know. [ Post Comment ] Comment #15 posted by whig on April 24, 2007 at 11:48:52 PT FoM Is it kind of like having animal ESP? [ Post Comment ] Comment #14 posted by FoM on April 24, 2007 at 11:41:56 PT Hope What the mare was doing is carrying the rider and listening to his cues and responding like horses do when they are feeling good and start snorting and high tailing it around a pasture when free. They are prancing really. The feeling of onesness when you can achieve one of those high level transitions is one of the most wonderful feelings I have ever had. You and the horse become one for a brief moment in time. [ Post Comment ] Comment #13 posted by FoM on April 24, 2007 at 11:29:30 PT Hope Dressage is such a wonderful discipline. The mare and the rider have the test memorized. You practice and practice so the horse knows when a transition will occur. The delicate moves are the highest level of training that a horse can have. Dressage was originally developed to make horses better when in war. The rider can do simple cues and the horse will respond to the aid. These movements have saved soldiers lives when in combat. That's why Dressage was perfected. [ Post Comment ] Comment #12 posted by Hope on April 24, 2007 at 11:23:28 PT dancing with him In that part of the video you can see the rider "leading" in the "dance".How extraordinary, and a creature of sheer perfection. Like a dream come to life in perfect detail.Amazing.(At one point she made me think of her being the original "dancing" low-rider vehicle) [ Post Comment ] Comment #11 posted by Hope on April 24, 2007 at 11:19:50 PT In the last half You can see her clearly dancing WITH him. You can see she's totally focused on his hands and feet and enjoying it...moving with him...literally dancing with him. That is so cool.Is she being guided much throughout, FoM, or has she memorized it from repition? [ Post Comment ] Comment #10 posted by Hope on April 24, 2007 at 11:09:44 PT Bet HER rider does! What a lovely and extraordinary animal.She likes to dance! [ Post Comment ] Comment #9 posted by Hope on April 24, 2007 at 11:07:12 PT Wow! Wow! Wow! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKQgTiqhPbwI've never seen anything like it. I'd like to have it on a loop on a big screen tv just to play all the time. (Bet his rider does.)What an extraordinary animal!(Thank you so much, Whig.) [ Post Comment ] Comment #8 posted by whig on April 24, 2007 at 10:28:30 PT FoM I haven't spent as much time around horses, rode them a few times when I was a kid but never lived around farm animals. I was just reading the Wikipedia entry on dressage. Very interesting. [ Post Comment ] Comment #7 posted by museman on April 24, 2007 at 09:39:18 PT ekim Are there any 'champions of the people' who have not been denigrated, assassinated, criminalized, imprisoned, or socially ostracized? I hardly think that Al Gore qualifies. His only claim is the access to resource that he used to create a movie that understates the obvious, and merely reitereates what discerning (albeit non-rich, or unfamous) people have known for many years. I mean better late than never, but I'd hardly credit Al with the substance of the matter. And I surely don't see him as a 'champion' of anything, except in stature amongst his 'peers.'The champions are the ones who stand up to injustice -without thought for the need of media or political correctness, but just because they see what needs to be done and do it. They are the ones that sit in prison, that stand to lose what little they may have, whose voices are drowned out by 'acceptable' media reports of the 'rich and famous' who after the real heroes have paid the price to get the news spread, jump on the wagon and claim authorship for ideas and invention that they fervently rejected before the general public picked up truth and started talking about it.As politicians go, Al is relatively benign, but when one passes through the clubhouse doors of the special elite -the royal fraternity of politicians- there is no going back. To a mason one would say, "You kissed the bible." Which basicly means that once you've sold your soul, you can't get it back - at least not and still belong to the club. [ Post Comment ] Comment #6 posted by FoM on April 24, 2007 at 07:36:50 PT Whig Watching that video made me think about my horses so I did a google search and found this. It really means so much to me. I own this horse and gave her to Merrily back in 93 to use and she sure has been using her. We owned the stallion and the mare and bred them and produced a beautiful little filly. I named her My Dear Leah. This made me day. http://www.ohja.net/horse.php?number=1417 [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by FoM on April 24, 2007 at 06:32:53 PT whig I have seen many Grand Prix level tests before but I have never seen one as flawless as that one. Thank you. What an absolutely marvelous mare. She blew the doors off of even stallions. Way to go pretty lady. [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by whig on April 24, 2007 at 01:35:44 PT FoM You'd probably find this interesting. I came across it on one of the blogs I read.Horse dancing.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKQgTiqhPbw [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by whig on April 23, 2007 at 21:28:25 PT ekim Let's understand where we're coming from. You represent police, correct? [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by whig on April 23, 2007 at 21:23:32 PT ekim Who are you to condemn another for silence? Does LEAP speak when I ask you to say something about medical marijuana?For JUSTICE's sake, ekim, say something! [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by ekim on April 23, 2007 at 19:32:26 PT if ever there was a need for a great benefit this is one.Al Gore where are you -- can you just stand by and watch this unfold in your State. You the man that has seen the future. The all seeing one that would right the many gov't wrongs. To be silent now and yet claim to know the inconvenient truth is very misleading. [ Post Comment ] Post Comment