Apr 1, 2007 - By K KAUFMANN staff writer for The Desert Sun -- PALM SPRINGS, Calif. - The day the Drug Enforcement Administration agents raided his home, Garry Silva was on his way to pick up his state-issued medical marijuana ID card.

The Sky Valley, Calif., resident was growing fewer than 100 plants of marijuana for a small group of patients and gave the surplus to CannaHelp, a dispensary in Palm Desert. That kind of cultivation was supposed to be legal under California's medical marijuana law, he said.

But the raid by the DEA and Riverside County Sheriff's Department a year ago was the first in a series of federal and county actions targeting medical marijuana dispensaries - and in Silva's case, an individual patient.

Today, reverberations continue throughout California as counties and cities wrestle with their obligations under state laws that allow medical marijuana - and possible liability under federal laws that don't.

Last month, the cities of Desert Hot Springs and Palm Springs extended moratoriums on dispensaries for another year. Desert Hot Springs also went to court to get a temporary restraining order against Organic Solutions, a dispensary operating in violation of the city's moratorium.

Silva was charged with possession and cultivation of marijuana. Ingrid Wyatt, a spokeswoman for the Riverside County District Attorney's Office, said the number of plants violated state law. Silva's case is scheduled for a hearing in May.

"It's a really tough battle for everybody that's been involved," said Stacy Hochanadel, owner of CannaHelp, who also faces county felony charges of possessing and selling marijuana. "We're all just trying to get them to do something to regulate a law that's been in existence for 11 years."

Eleven states now have laws legalizing medical marijuana, with New Mexico set to become the 12th. But California - with its many large and, in some cases, flashy dispensaries - has been the focus of federal action.

Federal officials raided 11 Los Angeles-area dispensaries on one day in January, the largest-ever crackdown. The raided clinics raked in an average of $20,000 in profits each day, DEA spokeswoman Sarah Pullen said.

Hochanadel and two of his managers also have been charged with making excessive profits, but by Riverside County, not the DEA. Riverside County District Attorney Rod Pacheco maintains that the state's medical marijuana law does not allow storefront dispensaries.

"I think the legislature needs to get involved," said Kris Hermes, legal campaign director for Americans for Safe Access. "Where there aren't regulations that explain how a facility like that should operate, there will be a wide array of people (who) will think it's acceptable."

State Assemblyman Mark Leno, one of the original authors of the state law, sees no need to clarify it.

"Micromanaging how private businesses operate is not something the state should be involved in," said Leno, D-San Francisco.

Fear of federal prosecution has been a factor in recent city council votes for moratoriums on the licensing of dispensaries.

"We were told (by the U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles) the federal government can and most likely will prosecute (cities allowing dispensaries) because that city is violating federal law," said Mary Stephens, Desert Hot Springs' mayor pro tem. "Federal law was in place first, and federal supersedes California law."

Bruce Mirken, spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project, said he was not aware of any federal cases against individual cities. "There are plenty of municipalities that have (dispensary laws) - San Francisco, Oakland - it's never happened," he said.

The uncertainties surrounding dispensaries in the Palm Springs area have prompted patients to take matters into their own hands.

Lanny Swerdlow, head of the patient-support group Marijuana Anti- Prohibition Project, has launched efforts to form what the group is calling a patients-dispensing cooperative - a patient-run dispensary with marijuana provided by the kind of small cooperative cultivators that state law envisions. To belong to the collective, and get marijuana, members would have to volunteer a few hours a week for the group.

So far, Palm Springs City Attorney Doug Holland has given the proposal a cautious thumbs-up.

"It has a sound basis for ultimately working, but it needs to be fleshed out," he said.

Still, state law remains vague on exactly what a collective or cooperative is - a problem for patients who want to grow for others, as Silva did before the raid.

"There isn't a legal definition," said Wyatt. "A collective or cooperative are a group or number of people in a group-like setting who are participating in the same venture - that would include those are using medical marijuana."

Silva said he had about 40 mature plants and several dozen seedlings at the time of the raid. He has not grown any marijuana since, he said. He and wife Krista spent the first anniversary of the raid at home.

"We were up at 5:30 (a.m.)," she said. "I kept hearing things. You don't actually realize how traumatizing it is."