cannabisnews.com: Medicinal Marijuana Defense Tossed





Medicinal Marijuana Defense Tossed
Posted by CN Staff on November 06, 2003 at 09:49:37 PT
By Joe Kafka, Associated Press
Source: Associated Press 
Pierre, S.D. -- A paralyzed Eagle Butte man who claims he must smoke marijuana for his health and wants legal immunity for it couldn't sell his argument to the state Supreme Court. The justices unanimously upheld Matthew Ducheneaux's pot possession conviction on Thursday.Ducheneaux's lawyer told the high court last month that a judge should have let his client to use a medical-necessity defense in his trial. Ducheneaux, confined to a wheelchair since a 1985 car crash, said he uses pot to ease chronic muscle spasms that do not respond well to prescription drugs.
He was arrested in Sioux Falls on July 15, 2000, when a police officer saw him smoking marijuana with another man at an outdoor music festival. Ducheneaux, 39, was found guilty and got a suspended five-day jail sentence if he promised not to smoke pot for a year.Although a magistrate agreed to let Ducheneaux argue that he needs marijuana for medical reasons, Circuit Judge Gene Paul Kean overruled that decision.Upholding Kean, the Supreme Court said Ducheneaux could not rely on a state law that allows illegal conduct when a person is being threatened by unlawful force.Such a necessity defense may be used by inmates who defend themselves against attacks in prison or a parent who kidnaps a child who was being abused by the other parent. But the law contains no provision for medicinal marijuana use.Allowing Ducheneaux to argue that he must smoke pot for health reasons does not fall within the limits of the necessity-defense law, the high court stated. It would strain the language of the law if it could be used to show that a health problem amounts to unlawful force against a person, the justices said."Laws govern the actions or inactions of people, not medical conditions," wrote Justice Richard W. Sabers.The Supreme Court said it is sympathetic to Ducheneaux's circumstances but that it cannot interpret the law any other way. Only the Legislature can decide to allow marijuana for medical purposes, and state lawmakers have rejected that idea in the past, the justices said."Although he testified that traditional medications have unwanted and detrimental side effects, Ducheneaux had legal means to combat the pain and spasms accompanying his condition," Sabers added.Ducheneaux's doctors prescribed several drugs for him, but he opted instead for marijuana, the justice said."His belief that his alternative treatments are inferior is insufficient justification for choosing an illegal remedy." Source: Associated Press Author: Joe Kafka, Associated PressPublished: November 06, 2003Copyright: 2003 Associated Press Related Articles & Web Site:Medical Marijuana Information Linkshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/medical.htmFormer Legislator Exploring Marijuana Measurehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17550.shtmlMan Seeks Legalized Use of Marijuana http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17480.shtml
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Comment #2 posted by ekim on November 06, 2003 at 18:39:25 PT
why we need Dennis Kucinitich
When all around him were running and loosing there heads he kept cool and did not vote for the P, act. while all those around him were in fear he alone did not vote for the war, now when all other {Pres hopefulls shake in fear he alone calls for Cannabis medical use and full decrim, Dennis clearly is the only leader who has kept his wits about himself. 
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Comment #1 posted by OverwhelmSam on November 06, 2003 at 10:08:35 PT:
Where Is The Love?
Let's start making the prisons wheel chair accessible for the sick and disabled. What a wonderfully compassionate Christian government we have. My question, "Where is the love?"
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