cannabisnews.com: High Court Changes it's Mind! 





High Court Changes it's Mind! 
Posted by FoM on June 04, 1999 at 05:43:46 PT
On hearing medical malpractice case!
Source: Naples News
TALLAHASSEE The case against a Panhandle man who grew the marijuana he needed to ease his glaucoma and nausea doesn't belong in the state Supreme Court, the justices decided Thursday.
The court's dismissal of the case means sick people who argue they need marijuana for health reasons can continue to use the defense of "medical necessity" in Florida trial courts if charged with growing marijuana. Attorney General Bob Butterworth had asked the state's high court to rule that the "medical necessity" defense could not be used. The case began with George Sowell of Chipley, who had been convicted of possession and cultivation of marijuana and sentenced to probation two years ago. But the 1st District Court of Appeal overturned the conviction because the trial judge had not allowed Sowell to use the "medical necessity" defense. The DCA ruling applies to the entire state because no other DCA has issued a conflicting decision. Butterworth's office appealed to the Supreme Court to overturn the DCA ruling. The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case in early April. In an unsigned order Thursday, the justices unanimously agreed the issue deals with "an extremely narrow principle of law" and therefore doesn't belong in the high court. Sowell, 61, received a kidney transplant 17 years ago after the drugs he was taking for his glaucoma caused kidney failure. Sowell said that marijuana helps ease his symptoms without any dangerous side-effects. "I think we have the right to use a medicine that's put here for us to use by God," Sowell said Thursday. "I've been fighting it for me and everyone else who needs it for medical necessity." Sowell stopped growing marijuana after his conviction and now gets the three marijuana cigarettes he smokes daily from someone else. In mid-March, the Institute of Medicine concluded marijuana has medical benefits for people suffering from cancer and AIDS. Marijuana's active ingredients can ease pain, nausea and vomiting, according to the institute, which is affiliated with the National Academy of Sciences. Grant Shostak, a St. Louis attorney for a national non-profit group that supports legalizing marijuana, said the Supreme Court's decision "will allow many extremely ill people to defend themselves on the basis of medical necessity and hopefully be relieved of tremendous pain and suffering. Shostak had filed a brief in the case for The NORML Foundation. Sowell's attorney, John F. Daniel of Panama City, did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment Thursday. Jim Rogers, chief of the bureau of criminal appeals for Butterworth's office, said the dismissal leaves the defense of medical necessity as an option in Florida's trial courts.
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