cannabisnews.com: Judge Frees Medical-Pot Patient, Returns Stash 





Judge Frees Medical-Pot Patient, Returns Stash 
Posted by CN Staff on September 28, 2002 at 08:12:12 PT
By Jason Schultz,  Sentinel Staff Writer
Source: Santa Cruz Sentinel 
Santa Cruz — Federal prosecutors might not respect the state law that allows people to grow marijuana for medical use, but a judge in Santa Cruz County does. Medical-marijuana user Greg Brown walked out of the courthouse Wednesday a free man with a legal bag of marijuana. Superior Court Judge Kathleen Akao threw out two felony charges against the Santa Cruz man after he proved he had a doctor’s recommendation to use medical marijuana. She ordered police to return Brown’s pot.
Brown was arrested March 15 after police found 52 plants growing at his house, 7 ounces of packaged marijuana and 3 ounces drying. He was charged with cultivating and possessing marijuana for sale, both felonies.Proposition 215, passed by voters in 1996, allows state residents to grow and smoke marijuana if they have a recommendation from a doctor. A recent decision by the state Supreme Court backed up that law, saying people arrested on marijuana charges can use their doctor’s recommendation as a defense in court.Brown’s attorney, Ben Rice of Santa Cruz, said Brown has a doctor’s recommendation. He said Brown fell down cement steps 10 years ago and suffers back problems from the accident. He said Brown’s written recommendation had expired when he was arrested in March, but he had a valid oral recommendation from the same doctor.Brown’s non-jury trial started Wednesday, and ended the same day when Akao agreed with Rice’s motion to dismiss the charges. The plants and the drying marijuana have been destroyed, but Brown got back the 7 ounces of dried pot. "I feel great, of course, I feel relief," Brown said.Brown said he also suffers from hepatitis C, which leaves him with heartburn and an upset stomach. The marijuana helps soothe his stomach and increase his appetite, he said, as well as helping him deal with back pain.Rice said marijuana seized in such cases often is not returned, even after an acquittal."What I’ve started doing is when people hire me, I call the District Attorney’s Office and tell them not to destroy any of the marijuana so it can be returned later," Rice said.The U.S. government considers marijuana an illegal drug with no medicinal value. The federal government considers medical-marijuana users to be drug abusers, and those who provide the marijuana to be drug dealers, said Drug Enforcement Administration spokesman Richard Meyer. State law will not protect them in federal court, he said.The DEA recently raided the North Coast farm of Wo/Men’s Alliance for Medical Marijuana, touching off a national controversy about the medicinal value of the drug and the federal enforcement of pot laws in states that allow its medical use. The furor culminated in a much-publicized distribution of marijuana to patients by the alliance on the steps of Santa Cruz City Hall.Rice is also the attorney for alliance founders Mike and Valerie Corral. Rice had intended to call one of them as an expert witness on the yield of marijuana plants in Brown’s case.San Francisco attorney John Kecher has joined the team to help defend the Corrals if the federal government decides to file charges in connection with the raid earlier this month.Source: Santa Cruz Sentinel (CA)Author: Jason Schultz,  Sentinel Staff WriterPublished: September 28, 2002 Copyright: 2002 Santa Cruz SentinelContact: editorial santa-cruz.comWebsite: http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/Related Articles & Web Sites:WAMMhttp://www.wamm.org/Pictures From WAMM Protesthttp://freedomtoexhale.com/eventpics.htmSanta Cruz Marijuana Farmer Sue Fedshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14235.shtmlThe Thrashing of a Dying Dinosaur's Tail http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14202.shtmlWhy I'm Fighting Federal Drug Laws From City Hallhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14195.shtml
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Comment #4 posted by delariand on September 28, 2002 at 12:15:55 PT
So glad to know we're being protected
"The U.S. government considers marijuana an illegal drug with no medicinal value. The federal government considers medical-marijuana users to be drug abusers, and those who provide the marijuana to be drug dealers, said Drug Enforcement Administration spokesman Richard Meyer. State law will not protect them in federal court, he said."State law will not protect them in federal court... Sick people in this country who use medical marijuana have no defense against Richard Meyer, who swoops down from on high, saving the children from all these dangerous elderly drug addicts and dealers.Where's the outrage?
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Comment #3 posted by xxdr_zombiexx on September 28, 2002 at 09:27:55 PT
Faith Based Inititives
Remember all the flap about "faith-based initiatives"? That the people and the community to come together and provide historically "professional" services the community level?
Bush pushed this heavily soon after "getting into office", Newt Gingrich also hawked the idea.How is WAMM NOT the epitome of, and a model for, such initiatives?
 
From what Ive been able to read, The Corrals were doing their lifes work providing a hospice for the sickest of people, in addition to providing efficacious medicine grown out of the ground. That certainly sounds like the most pro-social of values to me. I could be wrong......
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Comment #2 posted by canaman on September 28, 2002 at 09:01:50 PT
Nation of laws
Who's laws are more important? Federal, state or local? Seems to me if state or local laws don't harm or discriminate and are passed by voters, then the feds should stay the hell out of the way! After all, federal laws against cannabis where passed by politicians and not "WE THE PEOPLE". This Country needs a national initiative process so we can override the federal laws that inslave us. Seems to work at the state level why not the federal? These guys need to be reminded who they work for constantly.When the people lead the leaders WILL follow!
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Comment #1 posted by The GCW on September 28, 2002 at 08:43:39 PT
Get rid of the felony crowd.
Superior Court Judge Kathleen Akao threw out two felony charges...Get rid of the very people that uphold such spirit of evil.Using a plant is not against Our Fathers approval.Caging a human for using a plant IS EVIL.It is a sick group that would even consider caging a human for using a plant. Very deficient and dysfunctional.The prohibition of cannabis is against Christ God. The prohibition of cannabis is the original living sin.Government should perhaps have a grow-op, just to return what they have destroyed. If they took 100 plants, they should return 100 + interest, or the monetary equivalent, at over the price of gold.So when they claim that 100 plants is worth what ever millions of dollars... they would have to honor that same claim, when repayment day comes... Return the plant material, or repay $800,000 or what ever. That would help wake up the ignoids.
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