cannabisnews.com: Medical Marijuana Use Could Be Used as Defense





Medical Marijuana Use Could Be Used as Defense
Posted by CN Staff on March 22, 2004 at 17:46:30 PT
By Laura Wides, Associated Press Writer 
Source: Associated Press 
A federal judge ruled Monday that evidence of medical marijuana use could be considered by a jury as a defense in a criminal drug trial. The decision by U.S. District Court Judge Nora M. Manella comes in the wake of a December ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that a congressional act outlawing marijuana may not apply to sick people with a doctor's recommendation in states that have approved medical marijuana laws.
The case of Anna Barrett, 32, and her husband Gary, 35, who were charged with manufacturing and conspiring to manufacture marijuana marks the first time that the 9th Circuit ruling, which was made in a civil case, was argued before a judge in a criminal trial. Defense lawyers wanted the charges dismissed based on the appellate court's ruling, but attorney Daniel Halpern said he was pleased with the judge's decision. "What came out was a good thing in a big picture," Halpern said. The couple pleaded guilty in 2000 to growing marijuana and were allowed to grow 34 adult-flowering plants and keep up to 7.1 pounds of marijuana under a plea agreement. Both had doctors' recommendations but federal agents found hundreds of dormant clones of the plants during a May 2000 raid. They also discovered the couple were running a Web site with information on medical marijuana and charging people $100 to become members.Complete Title: Medical Marijuana Use Could Be Used as Defense, Federal Judge Rules Source: Associated Press Author: Laura Wides, Associated Press Writer Published: March 22, 2004Copyright: 2004 The Associated Press Related Articles & Web Sites:Trichome.orghttp://www.trichome.org/Raich v. Ashcroft in PDFhttp://freedomtoexhale.com/ruling.pdf9th U.S. Court Protects Pot Patients http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17982.shtmlCourt Exempts Medicinal Pot From Federal Banhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17981.shtml
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Comment #14 posted by E_Johnson on March 23, 2004 at 23:05:36 PT
The answer to my question
From the SJ Mercury-News"Manella ordered Barrett, 32, and her 35-year-old husband to stand trial Aug. 31."Aha so this will happen during before the election. 
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Comment #13 posted by E_Johnson on March 23, 2004 at 08:39:23 PT
So will the trial be before or after the election?
Can anyone project?If it happens before the election, I wonder how the press will treat it.This is one of the areas where Bush is very badly out of touch with the public. In fact he's not just out of touch, he's literally at war with the public on this issue. His position on the voters who support this issue is that they are stupid gullible people who have been duped by a tiny faction of evildoers.How is he going to even express an opinion on this issue in November without expressing contempt for people whose votes he wants?Talk about painting yourself into a corner.
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Comment #12 posted by E_Johnson on March 23, 2004 at 08:29:23 PT
Well that's amazing
Gosh people are very advanced in marijuana growing, I had no idea cuttings could be kept in the fridge for six weeks.I just naturally assumed that an annual plant has only two states -- growing and dying.Roses go into a natural dormancy in the winter. Annual plants never go dormant, they just do their job until its finished and die.That's why I thought they were full of it. There's no natural period of dormancy for an annual plant like there is for other types of plants.
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Comment #11 posted by Druid on March 23, 2004 at 07:30:52 PT
Clones-Dormancy
Clones can be kept in the fridge for up to 8 weeks with no ill effects. You can keep them longer but they will have a much harder time rooting the longer you go. You can take cuttings 2 weeks into flowering and put them in a ziplock bag in the fridge with a small amount of water. 6-8 weeks later after you harvest your budding plant you can plant your clones that you have been saving. The fridge will put them in a temporary statsis. They will not grow and do not need light so imho they are dormant.The following has been tried and tested by many people.
How can I hold clones in stasis? (the fridge method)This technique, first noticed by subcool, tommy, and myself, can be useful for a number of reasons. It is possible for very small scale cultivators to grow without the use of mother plants. It is also possible to hold males in reserve without wasting space or worrying about dropped pollen. It all involves your standard kitchen refridgerator.The crisper drawer and a ziploc bag provide a suitable stasis chamber for a fresh cutting for upwards of EIGHT weeks. In order to obtain this sort of longevity in the fridge, the bag containing the dry, unrooted branches should be opened to breathe at least once a week.Clones kept in the fridge this way actually root faster than non-fridged clones once they are removed-- up to a point of 2 or 3 weeks, when they will take longer to root and you may lose a few. When they are removed from the fridge to be replanted, be sure to recut the stem with a fresh X-acto blade or scalpel.Holding clones in "fridge stasis" offers many new possibilities for testing many different males, holding strains while evaluating, changing the way you time your mothers, etc.
How can I hold clones in stasis? (the fridge method)
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Comment #10 posted by BGreen on March 23, 2004 at 07:02:31 PT
Dormant Clones
According to Ed Rosenthals' "Ask Ed" column it *is* possible to achieve a state very similar to dormancy (growth is nearly stopped) by manipulating light, nutrients and temperature of the cuttings.But what does Ed really know?The Reverend Bud Green
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Comment #9 posted by E_Johnson on March 23, 2004 at 02:36:21 PT
Hey I just realized
There's going to be a federal trial in LA, with a medical defense.Wow this is going to be big. 
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Comment #8 posted by E_Johnson on March 22, 2004 at 23:33:24 PT
This changes the game for the prosecutor
If this person wants to run for public office in the future, the game is changed now because this prosecutor has to openly attack certifiably sick people in court in front of jurors.That will be very vividly remembered by everyone who was there.
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Comment #7 posted by E_Johnson on March 22, 2004 at 23:13:43 PT
Proof that even AP reporters just make things up
There is no such thing as a "dormant clone".I guess it sounded impressive to the editor. Do they even know that "clone" is just fancy talk for a plain old cutting?
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Comment #6 posted by FoM on March 22, 2004 at 21:58:43 PT
Related News Article from The Associated Press
Federal Judge: Medical Marijuana Use Can Be Used as Defense 
 
 March 22, 2004Los Angeles-AP -- When Gary and Anna Barrett go on trial in California on federal marijuana charges, they'll be allowed to defend themselves on the basis of using the drug for medical reasons.A federal judge in Los Angeles has ruled that a jury can consider such evidence in a criminal drug trial.In December, a federal appeals court said a law outlawing marijuana may not apply to sick people who have a doctor's recommendation in states that allow medical marijuana.The Barretts pleaded guilty to marijuana charges in 2000. A plea bargain allowed them to have 34 flowering plants and seven pounds of marijuana.But based on a raid last year, federal prosecutors believe the Barretts were actually growing marijuana for distribution to others. Agents found hundreds of dormant clones of the plants. The trial is set for August.Copyright: 2004 Associated Press
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Comment #5 posted by Sam Adams on March 22, 2004 at 19:40:33 PT
This article
Does this mean that there's no need for the "Truth in Trials Act" now? If so, that would be a major victory. 
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Comment #4 posted by Treeanna on March 22, 2004 at 19:07:43 PT
Boo! Hiss!
So now can he appeal that and and get into court with proper due process, etc? Or is he stuck with it?
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Comment #3 posted by charmed quark on March 22, 2004 at 19:00:08 PT
Decision on Dr. Tod Miuriya
I just noticed on Dr.Mikuriya's web site that the CA medical board made a decision on the malpractice complaint brought against him by law enforcement for his medical marijuana recommendations. They gave him 5 years probational monitoring of his practice and a $75,000 fine.-Petehttp://www.mikuriya.com/medicolegal.html
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Comment #2 posted by Virgil on March 22, 2004 at 18:54:22 PT
On March 11, Brazil decriminalized drug use
Brazil has seen prison populations increase 82% in 8 years trying to create a utopia by arresting people that use taboo substances. On March 11th the Brazilian Senate passed law#7134 that ends prison sentences for drug users and addicts- http://www.narconews.com/Issue32/article928.html
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Comment #1 posted by FoM on March 22, 2004 at 18:27:06 PT
News Article from NBCSandiego.com
Dozens Snared In DEA's 'Operation Grow Up' NetDEA Reveals Operation Grow Up Drug Bust DetailsMarch 22, 2004SAN DIEGO -- Law-enforcement officials in San Diego released new information Monday about a major drug bust called Operation Grow Up that took place last week.Friday's drug bust was large that almost every narcotics officer in the county was involved. And the Drug Enforcement Administration said it should send a message "that we are not going to tolerate, you know, the cultivation and distribution of marijuana," said Vigil. In all, said officials, 24 people were arrested, nearly two dozen homes were searched and more than 1,000 marijuana plants seized were seized in the six-month investigation.On Monday, 17 of the people linked to this drug ring appeared in court facing federal drug charges, and the DEA said that they were all part of a conspiracy to grow marijuana on farms that were inside houses.Officials said Monday that 3,119 plants were being cultivated in the homes, and that the most potent part of them, the buds, were being sold for between $4,000 and $5,500 per pound. The money added up quickly, said officials, who told NBC 7/39 that they found tens of thousands of dollars at some of the houses. They said they hadn't totaled up the amounts yet, but they think it will be somewhere in the range of $120,000.The sophisticated indoor farms had grow lights that sucked up electricity -- and the lights were bright enough to require blacking out the windows of the homes where the plants were grown. The lights were, in fact, the grower's weak spot -- investigators said a tip led them to a series of different houses with unusually high electrical bills."They showed a tremendous increase in terms of the number of units that were expended," said Michael Vigil of the DEA. "Obviously for the lamps and the indoor groves, and they continued that and were able to identify this organization."Some additional charges and enhancements are being considered, said officials, for both conspiracy and for growing the drugs in close proximity to schools.Copyright 2004 by NBCSandiego.com. http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/2941826/detail.html
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