Spocannabis Founder Busted for Selling Marijuana
SPOKANE — The founder of Spokane's medical marijuana movement is now in jail accused of selling pot.
Darren McCrae founded Spocannabis, a support group that helps sick people find medicinal marijuana. However Spokane Police allege McCrae was doing more than helping them find pot, he was dealing it and sold to five different people.
McCrae appeared in video court Wednesday but his case was continued until Thursday because police had not yet turned in their paperwork. Police arrested him earlier in the week and searched his house and found a large amount of cash and marijuana.
Friends of McCrae's turned out to support him in court Wednesday, describing him not as a dealer but a middle man that helps them get marijuana from someone else.
"Now Darren's gone so nobody has a source because Darren is the source unless you want to go out on the street and create a whole bunch of other drug dealers," Pam Ping said.
McCrae says he did nothing wrong. He said he didn't sell any marijuana, but did share it with others he says were authorized to use the drug.
"The reason I'm in here," McCrae said while in the Spokane County Jail, "is I was sharing my medicine with other family members who have authorization to use marijuana medcinally."
Medicinal marijuana was approved in Washington State in 1998 and it allows people with certain terminal or debilitating conditions to use marijuana. The law does not protect people from arrest or prosecution but does give them a defense in court. McCrae says the law needs to be changed.
McCrae was booked on one count of dealing but police say he will be charged with four more counts. He was released on a $5,000 bond on Wednesday night. | 
