cannabisnews.com: Man Who Tried MMJ Defense Gets Probation





Man Who Tried MMJ Defense Gets Probation
Posted by FoM on September 01, 1999 at 23:15:14 PT
Source: Tampa Bay On Line
BRONSON, Fla. (AP) - A man convicted of drug possession after a jury rejected his claim that he needs marijuana for medical purposes was sentenced to three years of probation Wednesday. 
Joe Tacl, 46, claimed in his July trial that he needs marijuana to cope with the side effects of potent painkillers he has taken for six years since being run over by a van. Some medical studies have supported the use of marijuana to ease nausea and other side effects of heavy medication. But in the first felony marijuana possession case to go to trial since the state Supreme Court said defendants can use the defense, a Levy County jury rejected Tacl's claim. Police found marijuana growing on the Tacl farm and arrested the 46-year-old former car salesman and his 21-year-old son Michael last year. Michael was also convicted. He was sentenced to 18 months probation Wednesday. No record of guilt will show up on Michael's record, although he will have to do some community service. Neither sentence will take effect immediately because the Tacl's are appealing their convictions, said their lawyer, Andrew Fine. In handing down the sentence, Circuit Judge Frederick Smith called the case ``a fairly routine drug case.'' It didn't seem routine in June, when national media and several advocates of legalizing marijuana for medical purposes descended on the tiny town of Bronson, west of Gainesville. ``My goal now is to go somewhere where I can be legal,'' Joe Tacl said after the sentencing. Fine said that if the appeal is unsuccessful and Tacl has to serve probation, it would be up to the probation office as to whether he could leave the state. As of now, though, he can. Tacl's wife, Ann, said the family plans to move out of Florida as soon as possible. ``Maybe the Netherlands, maybe California - wherever they realize that marijuana can be used medically,'' Ann Tacl said. Spencer Mann, a spokesman for the prosecutors, said the office will continue to go after people who have marijuana even if they claim a medical need unless the law is changed. ``It's not a matter of us taking a political position on the medical use of marijuana,'' Mann said. ``It's a violation of the law at this point and until the Legislature decides to change it we'll continue to uphold the law.'' Pubdate: September 1, 1999Copyright 1999 Associated Press
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