Man Pleads Not Guilty In Pot Case Multiple Sclerosis Victim Faces Federal Charges

Disabled friends of a man with multiple sclerosis accompanied him to U.S. District Court on Tuesday, where he pleaded not guilty to charges of growing and selling pot.

Samuel Dean Diana was the first MS victim in the United States to win the legal right to smoke marijuana in a landmark 1981 state court ruling.

Now, the 48-year-old disabled man is accused in a federal indictment of growing more than 100 marijuana plants in his rural home near Cheney and selling pot.

Four other men also face charges in the case.

Diana is charged with maintaining a place where marijuana is grown; manufacturing more than 100 plants; possession with intent to distribute; conspiracy; and sale of pot.

The manufacturing charge carries a minimum term of five years in prison if he’s convicted.

Diana pleaded not guilty to each of the counts, and faces trial with the others May 26.

He declined comment on the advice of his court-appointed attorney, Phillip “Dutch” Wetzel.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Harrington has declined to discuss details of the case, but said the government is prepared to try all five defendants together.

When he was indicted last month, Diana said he smokes 21 to 28 marijuana joints a day to relieve pain caused by his nerve disease.

Diana was released without bond, and chatted with his friends outside the courthouse.

He was accompanied by a group of his disabled friends - including others suffering from MS - who say they regularly smoke marijuana.

One of those was co-defendant Henry Joseph Chiappetta. Chiappetta said he couldn’t comment on the case or how he became involved.

“Yes, I smoke it, too, and it helps greatly,” said Bill George, who has suffered MS for 23 years and is another friend of Diana’s.

George, a 1964 graduate of Lewis and Clark High School, was an all-city football player before becoming debilitated from MS. He is not a defendant in the case.

George and others in the group said they believe investigators built their case against Diana by striking a deal with an informant arrested for possessing methamphetamine.

Although no one in the group would admit getting marijuana in the past from Diana, they did say there is now talk about forming a marijuana buyers club.

Such clubs, like those in California, are formed for the purpose of selling marijuana to people who say they need it for medicinal purposes.

Tracy Stone, another friend of Diana’s, said people interested in forming the buyers club will meet this weekend in the Tri-Cities to plan strategy.

Stone said disabled people find relief in marijuana that they can’t get from prescription drugs.

“The fact that Sam was growing marijuana was no secret,” Stone said. “He was doing it legally, as far as the state of Washington was concerned.”

Stone said Diana “was a sitting duck” for a man who was arrested for possessing methamphetamine.

“The feds arrest people on a charge, then get them to roll over on somebody else to get themselves out of the jam,” Stone said.