The Juneau-based district attorney’s office dropped two of four drug-related charges last week against a well-known Haines marijuana advocate.
Dean “Bear” Lari, 54, was originally charged in Alaska District Court with three counts of drug possession and one count of delivering drugs, all felony charges. The original three possession charges were for marijuana, cocaine and methamphetamine.
The cocaine delivery and marijuana possession charges have been dismissed, said assistant district attorney Amy Paige. The state is proceeding with the cocaine and meth possession charges, pending some additional review.
Officers arrested Lari on Oct. 12 after police alleged he sold six grams of cocaine through an informant to an undercover buyer for $275 in downtown Haines. Police arrested Lari after he drove away with the informant.
With a warrant, a follow-up search of his home turned up 33 mature marijuana plants and 24 seedlings of one inch to four inches in height, court records said. Alaska law allows an adult to have up to six plants for personal use.
A memo to the Haines Borough Assembly by borough manager Bill Seward estimated that the seized marijuana has a black market value of $118,000.
The search also discovered residue of a white powder – which field-tested positive for cocaine – on the glass of a framed picture of the Grateful Dead, along with a straw and razor, court records alleged.
And the search turned up a plastic bag with less than one gram of a white crystal-like substance that field-tested positive for methamphetamine, court records said.
Paige declined to say why the cocaine delivery and marijuana possession charges were dropped, other than “legal issues” led to the dismissal of the cocaine charge.
Haines Police chief Heath Scott said the district attorney’s office had not told him why the two charges were dismissed. He was especially surprised at the dismissal of the cocaine delivery charge.
Upset about the Chilkat Valley News’ Oct. 20 story about his arrest, Lari angrily declined to comment.
In an Oct. 19 interview, Lari said his home contained only three mature marijuana plants.
Lari is out on $4,000 bail.
Lari has been a marijuana activist in Haines for years. In 2015, he approached the borough assembly to invite it and borough officials to watch pot being smoked or to try it themselves to educate themselves about marijuana use.
Later, he said Haines’ small population could not economically support a retail marijuana shop.
In July 2012, Haines police approached Lari about a suspected methamphetamine deal at the Fort Seward parade grounds. Lari complained in a newspaper interview that police improperly forced him to empty his pockets at that time. He was not charged in that incident.