cannabisnews.com: He Lost Much For A Cause He Supported 





He Lost Much For A Cause He Supported 
Posted by FoM on December 16, 1999 at 11:05:17 PT
By Teri Sforza, The Orange County Register 
Source: Orange County Register
Those were heady days, setting up Orange County's first medical marijuana co-op. Rushing around for legal advice. Business licenses. Strategy meetings. Trailblazers, they considered themselves, crusading for a cause they believed in their bones was right.
"Our country was born on revolution, and I don't think of myself as any different from that guy who ... dumped tea in the Boston Harbor," said David Lee Herrick, who was recently released from prison after serving more than two years. He was convicted of selling pot; he says he was providing medicine to patients in need."I never thought of myself as a criminal," he said. "I always thought of myself as a political prisoner. Am I bitter? Yeah, I'm bitter. I pretty much lost everything I ever had."In a twist straight from a Hollywood movie, Herrick, a former San Bernardino County sheriff's deputy, went to the slammer. He's believed to be California's first medical marijuana activist convicted of selling pot in the post-Proposition 215 era.Herrick shared a maximum-security cell with an attempted murderer. He shared a minimum-security dorm room with 200 men convicted of just about everything else. He read good books and bad books. He raised vegetables for 11 cents an hour.The people on the outside who were supposed to take care of his stuff stole it instead. The co-op is essentially defunct. The federal government still considers marijuana a "schedule one" drug, meaning it has no medical use.But the part that really hurt came when an appeals court reversed his conviction in September. The prosecutor engaged in willful misconduct, the court said. But the decision came too late to do him any good, and Herrick remained in prison until Oct. 14 when, after 29 months behind bars, he was paroled.Since then, he's been living with friends in Mira Loma, speaking to gatherings like the one at the Orange County Hemp Council's office Wednesday night, and trying to figure out how to build a new life. He wants to write a book. Speak. Get his message out.Today is his 50th birthday."I lost 29 months of my life and there's no way to get them back," said Herrick. "It's a shame they can take you, arrest you, keep you in jail, and when they find out they did something wrong, they don't even say 'I'm sorry.' Just another life that's ruined. Oops."The District Attorney's Office could have tried Herrick again, but decided not to last week. He already served his sentence, and even if found guilty at a new trial, the judge couldn't give him any more prison time, said Deputy District Attorney Brian Gurwitz.Orange County is known for being one of the toughest in California when it comes to medical marijuana cases. Then-Sheriff Brad Gates led the statewide opposition to Prop. 215, the medical marijuana initiative that passed in 1996.And the district attorney has not shied from prosecuting cases: A co-founder of the co-op, Marvin Chavez, was convicted of selling and transporting pot, and is serving a six-year sentence in state prison; and last week, the district attorney dropped charges against co-founder Jack Shachter, who is in Florida dying of cancer.Herrick was a sheriff's deputy for 15 years, until he suffered a back injury on duty. He didn't want to get hooked on prescription drugs, so he started using marijuana to ease the pain, he said. He owned a smoke shop in Hesperia when he met Chavez, and got caught up in the dream of the co-op.The co-op believed it was on firm legal footing when it accepted money from patients in exchange for quarter-ounce baggies marked "RX." But the district attorney said this is a drug sale under California law. The jurors wanted to take Prop. 215 into account when deciding Herrick's fate, but the judge wouldn't let them.The law remains in limbo today."Fifty-six percent of California voters passed Prop. 215," Herrick said. "Why is it that, three years later, it's still not law? Why?"Published: December 16, 1999Copyright 1999 The Orange County RegisterRelated Articles & Web Site:American Medical Marijuana Association http://www.kubby.com/AMMA.htmlVote Establishes Task Force To Study Issue - 12/15/99http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread4020.shtmlBetter Climate For 215 - 12/14/99http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread3995.shtml2 Pot Co-Op Figures Let Off The Hook - 12/11/99 http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread3965.shtml 
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