cannabisnews.com: Marijuana Hearing Draws Support From Protesters





Marijuana Hearing Draws Support From Protesters
Posted by FoM on October 26, 1999 at 18:33:14 PT
By Amy Bentley, Staff writer
Source: Ventura County Star
A Camarillo couple charged with growing marijuana at their home made a court appearance Monday with a group of out-of-town supporters, who wore T-shirts urging people to back the use of marijuana for medical purposes. 
Lisa Schwarz, 43, of Camarillo says she uses marijuana to alleviate chronic back pain and headaches caused by three back surgeries for disc problems. "This is what she uses to not be a morphine addict," said her attorney, J. David Nick of San Francisco. Acting on an informant's tip, Ventura County Sheriff's Department agents obtained a search warrant and raided the Dewayne Avenue home Lisa Schwarz shares with her husband, Craig Schwarz, on July 8. Police confiscated suspected growing equipment and 68 marijuana plants. The couple were growing 17 plants in a closet, seven in a shed and 44 in the back yard. The plants were in different stages of growth, so Lisa Schwarz would have cannabis year-round, her lawyer said. She and her 40-year-old husband were arrested and charged with cultivating marijuana and possessing it for sale. They also are accused of possessing opium poppies, Deputy District Attorney Chris Harman said. He declined to discuss details of the case -- the only criminal one pending in local courts where a defendant is claiming a medical marijuana defense. The Schwarzes appeared in Superior Court on Monday for a preliminary hearing on the evidence against them, but the hearing was postponed to Dec. 1. The couple and their supporters wore T-shirts that said, "Stop Arresting Patients." Craig Schwarz's attorney said his client is protected from prosecution under the Compassionate Use Act of 1996 as the primary caregiver for his wife, who walks with a cane. "He helps her do everything," attorney Michael Mehas said. Lisa Schwarz has the required physician's recommendation to use marijuana for medical purposes. But the voter-approved law is vague on just how much a patient can grow or possess for personal use, Mehas said. When the Sheriff's Department announced the couple's arrest in July, officials said the number of plants found indicated they weren't just for personal use. But the Schwarzes deny selling any marijuana. The couple's attorneys hope police agencies countywide will develop a system to investigate medical marijuana patients without first arresting them and destroying their crops. Lisa Schwarz said she used to get marijuana from Andrea Nagy's medical cannabis center in Thousand Oaks until authorities closed it in February 1998. Judge William Peck ruled Nagy was not a "primary caregiver" as defined by Proposition 215, the initiative voters approved as the Compassionate Use Act. Schwarz said she began growing her own marijuana because she had nowhere to get it safely. Now, she must take prescription muscle relaxers and sleeping aids that have negative side effects and sometimes prevent her from working at home publishing legal books and scholarship yearbooks, she said. Published October 26, 1999 © Copyright 1999, Ventura County StarRelated Article & Web Site:215 Nowhttp://www.215now.com/It's California Versus The Feds On Med.Marijuana - 10/03/99http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread3125.shtml
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Comment #2 posted by soquel on October 27, 1999 at 07:27:08 PT:
size don't matter
 i disagree, kaptinemo... its a plant (no matter what the size). there was a case where a guy was charged with having 902 plants. he would throw his trash in a flower pot just outside the door. it looked like alfalfa sprouts. so all the cops try to do is pump up thier stories by adding more details to it.   cops: "ah ha, see.. she had more than 10 plants so it wasn't all for personal use... this is proof that she was gonna sell it." . the next thing they're gonna do to these poor people is go after their families. threaten to charge other family members in criminal cases. law enforcement wants to be the punishment part of the system.  BUT... you are right that they need more education.~S
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Comment #1 posted by kaptinemo on October 26, 1999 at 19:19:21 PT
Ignorance in action, again
Someone should refer these clowns of law enforcerment to a good book regarding the mechanics of growing- presuming they are literate, of course.Since you can't *tell* from the seed whether the plant is male or female, and still can't tell up to the moment of flowering, you are going to have 'more plants than you need for personal use'. If you after ses, then of course you will cull the males. Otherwise, only half of your garden will be usesble. But the cops are saying that each plant is usable.In short, they are using their easily rectified ignorance as a means by which they can prosecute these and other people who are growing MMJ. Typical.
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