The founder of the longest serving medical marijuana dispensary in the Southland has publicly vowed to cultivate pot for seriously ill HIV/AIDS patients in his backyard, after the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office recently dropped a criminal case against him days before it was due to go to trial.

According to Paul Scott, executive director of the Inglewood Wellness Center, which opened in February 2000, and the Los Angeles Wellness Center, located at 312 Olympic Blvd., he was arrested and charged last June for cultivation of marijuana and the possession of marijuana for sale.

In an interview with The Wave, Scott, 40, a prominent and outspoken HIV/AIDS health advocate, who has lived with HIV for the past 17 years, likened his arrest at his South Los Angeles home to a Hollywood movie scene.

“There was a ‘ghetto bird’ over head, I’m in handcuffs; they go through to the back garden and pull up the plants and put them in big bags,” he recalled, sporting a “Get the Greed out of Weed” T-shirt. “I was trying to tell them who I am … that I am a founder of a medical marijuana collective and that I have all the paperwork. They just sit me on the sofa asking me questions about money and bank accounts and search the house from top to bottom. They also rip the lights out from the indoor green house.”

Scott said he spent $30,000 hiring the services of Santa Monica-based attorney Bradley Brunon. The D.A. eventually offered a deal to dismiss the case in return for him spending 90 days in jail.

“Jury selection was becoming imminent … there were some pre-trial procedures, but had we not succeeded in the pre-trial phase, we would have been picking a jury” said Brunon. “My first thought when Paul approached me to take the case was … is there a legitimate medical marijuana collective? And as we did our investigation it became clear that Paul’s collective, the Inglewood Wellness Center, is probably the most legitimate collective I’ve ever seen.”

Brunon added: “It is completely community oriented, has numerous health related programs and classes and it is well-organized and widespread in terms of its outreach.

“We received numerous comments from the community about people who have been helped by Paul, simple things like receiving Thanksgiving and Christmas baskets to more organized activities as him providing backpacks for school children.”

Citing confusion in the law, Brunon said there is a big problem for medical marijuana dispensaries.

“Their dilemma is that the rules are not clearly established in distinguishing between legal and illegal distribution of marijuana. If it is done for medical marijuana purposes and on a collective basis, it’s not illegal, but the lines are not clear,” he said. “It’s difficult for lawyers advising collectives; it’s difficult for the courts to enforce the rules because they are so vague, it’s hard for police to know when someone is acting illegal or not. But the facts in Paul’s case came down very clearly on the legal side of the equation.

“Had the officers known at the beginning what they knew at the end they may not have arrested him, but they frequently say that’s not their decision … they present the facts to the court and let somebody else make the decision.”

The prosecutor in the case, Kathy Phillips, did not return a call for comment. However, Scott was not in a forgiving mood.

“It’s been an arduous journey becoming the first person to open up a store in a downtown district to dispense cannabis to sick people. I was warned by so many people not to do it. From having people say, ‘Hey the cops are coming’ and no employees showing up for work that day … the break-ins, the robberies over the years. Many times I said, ‘I’m done with it.’

“But I’d like to find maybe eight, nine HIV patients … people who can’t afford medical marijuana because they are on a fixed income … and have them grow their own plants in my backyard.

“Basically, they would have to care of it; water and fertilize it. In the coming days, weeks and months, you’ll see more plants back here because people will be growing their own.”

Photo: Paul Scott, founder of the Inglewood Wellness Center, has vowed to cultivate weed on behalf of HIV/AIDS patients in his back garden. Credit: Olu Alemoru