cannabisnews.com: Calif. Court: No Prosecution for Medical Pot Users





Calif. Court: No Prosecution for Medical Pot Users
Posted by CN Staff on July 21, 2002 at 19:22:06 PT
By Melissa Schorr 
Source: Reuters Health
In a unanimous decision, the California Supreme Court reasserted the voter-approved law granting ill patients the right to use marijuana for medical purposes without fear of prosecution. "The court made it clear that medical marijuana patients with a physician's authorization are no different than patients who have a prescription for prescription drugs--they are to be treated the same," Gerald Uelmen, the attorney who argued the case before the court, told Reuters Health. Uelmen is a professor at Santa Clara University School of Law. 
California voters passed Proposition 215, or the Medical Use of Marijuana initiative, in 1996. The law gave patients the right to possess marijuana if it was prescribed by a doctor for ailments such as glaucoma, AIDS and cancer. Eight other states--Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Maine, Nevada, Oregon, Hawaii and Washington--have since passed similar laws. However, a 2001 US Supreme Court ruling found that federal drug laws do not recognize these state initiatives and that medical marijuana users and third-party distributors are still technically subject to federal prosecution. The California law was challenged by Myron Mower, a Tuolumne County diabetic who was arrested in 1997 for growing 31 marijuana plants in his home. On Thursday, Chief Justice Ronald George overturned an appeal court's earlier decision. In the court's ruling, he wrote that patients who produce a prescription for marijuana should not have to proceed to trial, but should have their cases dismissed at an earlier point in time. The initiative "reasonably must be interpreted to grant a defendant a limited immunity from prosecution," the justice wrote. In addition, the justices found that defendants who do go to trial should be judged by whether there was merely a reasonable doubt, rather than a preponderance of the evidence, that they were guilty. "For many patients who still live in fear, it should put their minds at ease that the law is the law," Paul Armentano, a senior policy analyst for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, a Washington, DC-based advocacy group, told Reuters Health. "For qualified patients, the possession as a medicine should be treated as we treat other prescription medications people use every day." California Attorney General Bill Lockyer, whose office prosecuted the case, said in a written statement he approved of the clarity of the court's decision. "The court's decision strikes an appropriate balance in helping to ensure that truly needy patients whose doctors have recommended medical marijuana to alleviate pain and suffering related to serious illnesses will have access to this medicine under California law," he said. In 1999, the Institute of Medicine reviewed the medical literature on marijuana's health effects. "Scientific data indicate the potential therapeutic value of cannabinoid drugs," the report concluded. "Cannabinoids would be moderately well suited for particular conditions, such as chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting, and AIDS wasting." The American Medical Association and the American Cancer Society have previously called for clinical trials investigating marijuana's reputed health benefits, such as relief from pain and nausea, and appetite stimulation. Newshawk: Nicholas Thimmesch - http://www.norml.org/Source: Reuters HealthAuthor: Melissa Schorr Published: Friday, July 19, 2002Copyright: 2002 Reuters UnlimitedRelated Articles & Web Sites:NORMLhttp://www.norml.org/Medical Marijuana Information Linkshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/medical.htmMedical Pot Users May Be Immune To Prosecution http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13485.shtmlCourt: Medicinal Marijuana is Legalhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13469.shtmlState's Top Court Rules on Medical Pot Law http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13465.shtml
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Comment #6 posted by kaptinemo on July 22, 2002 at 09:49:30 PT:
A minefiled named California...
I share 4Q's summation of the inevitable. We are about to witness a Fed train wreck.The Feds are being slowly backed into a corner. Up to now, they have been able to avoid unpleasentness with the State of California largely because California pols and judges genteely and politely stepped aside for the longest time and allowed the DEA to rape the patients unmolested.That's changed. And the Feds know it. And are sweating bullets.Because, ultimately, the Feds are dependent upon local LEO's for their on-the-ground support. And that's about to vanish. Any local LEO who aids the Feds in busting a club or patient is now breaking the (California State)law. The Feds may try some trick such as temporarily deputizing local LEOs as Feds, but then the local LEOs must contend with the fact that, as far as the California constitution is concerned, they have just entered into a criminal conspiracy against the citizens of their State by performing an unconstitutional act in supporting the Feds in violating California law!Very sticky situation, that. And since the law now recognizes the medical defense, it will be used in court. And the Feds know that if the the med defense is left standing...they aren't. There's only so many Feds. They can't run around and bust every patient - that's why they needed local help to begin with. The yearly CAMP project may also be affected if the patients and growers can make some sort of regulation that an outside grow area is marked in some way to denote it's legitimacy. Markings which the criminal consortiums grwing for profit will almost certainly adopt. Since the National Guard often runs the choppers for this, their involvement may have just proved too problematic for California. If they try to 'Federalize' the National Guard and use them, the same problem exists. The Guardsmen may carry out their Federal orders...and go home to stand in the docket and face prison time for violating State law. The Feds are in what my Brit friends used to refer to a sa 'cleft stick'. Time to slink home, tails between their legs, trailing their slime, and try to think up new ways to subvert laws. California has just become a minefiled. Watch yer step on the way out, Feds!
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Comment #5 posted by releafer on July 22, 2002 at 05:26:09 PT
This Article is not true !!! i point too!
THE LIE !!!However, a 2001 US Supreme Court ruling found that federal drug laws do not recognize these state initiatives and that medical marijuana users and third-party distributors are still technically subject to federal prosecutionTHE TRUTH:The Supremes only said that there is no -medical defense as the Fed didn't recognise medical value for pot. THEY NEVER CONDEMDed the CLUBSLIAR LIAR AGAIN
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Comment #4 posted by pppp on July 22, 2002 at 05:07:58 PT
...off topic.......BUT...
...watch as the stock market FRIES this week!
 
 
".........I'm sorry sir,,,,but your money's all gone............"
 
 
".....in fact......you owe us now!"
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Comment #3 posted by E_Johnson on July 22, 2002 at 01:50:32 PT
MMmmm someone's opinion's missing
I don't see Mr.Hutchinson being asked his opinion here. Not that Reuters doesn't already know what it is. 
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Comment #2 posted by qqqq on July 22, 2002 at 01:01:27 PT
..I'm Surprized...
..that reuters covered the story.....I think the media will be treading a bit lightly concerning this court decision.....And that's a good sign.....because this is BIG.....This California court decision,,is going to be seen as a defiant slap in the face for the federal empire drug law enforcers,and criminalizers!....It's a showdown,,and you can bet that they are on high alert at the DEA ,doing damage control,and plotting strategies to over-ride California state law...And on top of that,,they have the annoying Nevada problem to deal with.You can bet they will be pulling out all the stops to try and have the Nevada initiative voted down.....We wont see a heck of alot of coverage in the mainstream media,unless it is biased in favor of the empire..
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Comment #1 posted by E_Johnson on July 21, 2002 at 21:06:51 PT
Why is NYT refusing to report this?
Not the tiniest peep about this yet in the New York Times.Are they corrupt, stupid, or just so full of themselves as New Yorkers that they really imagine it isn't news?
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