cannabisnews.com: Man's Marijuana Charge Dropped





Man's Marijuana Charge Dropped
Posted by FoM on February 09, 2000 at 12:05:40 PT
By Maline Hazle, Record Searchlight
Source: Record Searchlight
A criminal charge has been dropped in the case of Shane Navarro, who had been expected to be the next Shasta County medicinal marijuana user to be tried for possession of marijuana for sale.''We reviewed the case and made the determination that it was not appropriate to proceed,'' Shasta County District Attorney McGregor Scott said Tuesday. He declined to elaborate.
''That's all I'm going to say,'' Scott answered to additional questions about why the charge was dropped and whether Navarro's pot would be returned.Navarro, 24, of Anderson said in an earlier interview that he was driving in Redding in March 1999 when a city police officer stopped him for a vehicle registration violation.''He asked me if I had any drugs, weapons or dead bodies in the car,'' Navarro said. ''I let him look. I had six bags, a little under 2 ounces total, and I gave him my legal (doctor's) recommendation to use marijuana.Navarro said a doctor from Lake County had recommended marijuana to replace the lithium and Prozac he had been taking to treat clinical anxiety, panic attacks and depression.He said the officer told him that Scott had told law enforcers to ''arrest everybody'' and let the district attorney's office decide whether to prosecute.Navarro's attorney, Michael Sharpe of Redding, said no reason was given for dropping the charge.''I believe they couldn't prove the case,'' said Sharpe, a public defender. ''There was no evidence whatsoever that he possessed marijuana for sale - no money, no scales. The charges never should have been filed.''''They just gotta leave these people alone,'' Navarro said.Navarro's brother, David, is a paraplegic who founded the Redding Cannabis Cultivation Cooperative to distribute marijuana to people with chronic illnesses after Proposition 215 was approved by voters in 1996.David Navarro was arrested in 1997 on a federal charge of conspiracy to grow marijuana after drug agents arrested several marijuana growers who said they were going to sell it to the club.The charge against David Navarro was dropped later that year, but the club closed down.''So that forces the medical marijuana users in Northern California to buy it on the street,'' Shane Navarro said.Shane Navarro said he is likely to attempt to get his marijuana back later this week. He said he also is frustrated because even though the charge was dropped, he's still out the $1,015 he paid to bail out of jail.Another medicinal marijuana user, Richard Levin, 49, of Redding, tried to get his pot back last month after having been acquitted of a similar charge. Federal agents seized Levin's marijuana from the Shasta County sheriff's office just minutes before he went to retrieve it.In a separate case, Dan Craig, a 51-year-old disabled Vietnam veteran who lives in Redding, said Tuesday that he was notified late last week that Scott's office will not file charges against him for possession of marijuana found when Redding police stopped him Sept. 20.Craig said police also took his doctor's medicinal marijuana recommendation and his marijuana and he has been unable to get either returned.Meanwhile, in Tehama County, medicinal marijuana user Chris Ward appeared in court Tuesday in an attempt to obtain an order that Tehama County authorities return marijuana they took from his home last year with a search warrant. Ward was not arrested or charged.His hearing was postponed until Feb. 17.Reporter Maline Hazle can be reached at 225-8266 or at mhazle redding.com.Published: February 9, 2000© 2000 Record Searchlight - The E.W. Scripps Co. Related Articles:Pot Pundit Disputes Cop Claims at Marijuana Trialhttp://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread4602.shtmlPot Amount Issue in Trialhttp://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread4489.shtmlGrandma Says She Used Pot To Ease Painhttp://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread4637.shtml
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Comment #1 posted by kaptinemo on February 09, 2000 at 12:28:45 PT
Burned fingers and whipped bums
Like the old saying goes, when the people lead, the leaders follow. Usually kicking, screaming and digging their heels in like a spoiled brat, but they follow. But sometimes, when they are especially recalicitrant, they have to teach themselves what happens when they try to disregard the laws they are sworn to uphold. When they try to put their fingers on something that doesn't belong to them - like your rights - they need to have their fingers judiciously burned. When they become obstreperous and think that they are above the law, and will decide what the law is, they need to have their butts legally whipped.Only after the hard lessons of burned fingers and backsides do they often pay attention. After that, you rarely have much trouble.
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