Grant Rodgers

Des Moines Register

A dying Iowan faces a prison sentence after being convicted today of felony drug charges for growing marijuana that he says he used medicinally.

Jurors delivered their verdict this afternoon in the trial of Benton Mackenzie, 48, who admits he grew marijuana plants in a trailer and RV on his parents' property in just north of Davenport in the city of Eldridge. Law enforcement found approximately 71 plants during a raid last year, Mackenzie said in an interview today.

Mackenzie was diagnosed in 2011 with angiosarcoma - a cancer that affects the lining of blood vessels - that left him with a grapefruit-sized tumor on his buttock. Mackenzie chose to treat himself with cannabis oil and by drinking fresh juice from the plants instead of seeking chemotherapy, which he worried would damage his heart, he said.

Mackenzie claims the tumor, which he first noticed approximately six years ago, went from the size of a golf ball to being a "bump" within two months of beginning self-treatment using cannabis, he said. Since Mackenzie's arrest, the case has attracted national media attention, and Mackenzie hopes it's bringing attention to the benefits of medical marijuana.

However, Mackenzie said today he was not overly optimistic about the chances of a jury acquitting him on the four felony drug charges, he said.

"It's almost predictable what the end result's going to be," he said. "I'm concerned about it, but I don't worry about it. Wherever I am, I'm there for a purpose."

A significant blow was dealt to Mackenzie's when Scott County District Court Judge Henry Latham barred Mackenzie's defense attorneys from claiming at trial that he needed the marijuana for treatment. Due to a previous drug conviction, Mackenzie will face a three-year prison sentence at a later hearing, which he calls a "death sentence."

Mackenzie's wife Loretta Mackenzie, 43, and son Cody Mackenzie, 22, were also convicted on drug charges stemming from the raid last year. Jurors deliberated on Tuesday and today before giving the verdict shortly before 2:30 p.m.

Mackenzie has been in the courtroom throughout his trial in a wheelchair, as the cancer has left him drained of energy and unsteady while walking, he said.