cannabisnews.com: Faces Of Freedom: A Crusader For Medical Marijuana





Faces Of Freedom: A Crusader For Medical Marijuana
Posted by FoM on June 12, 2000 at 19:13:15 PT
By Alan Bock - Senior Editorial Writer
Source: Orange County Register
Marvin Chavez has stood up for what he thought was right, declined to make deals when he thought he had done nothing wrong, and paid a high price. But he's back from prison and, as he told me the other day, "I feel like I've barely broken my stride. They certainly didn't bother my spirit. We will make it possible for sick and disabled people to learn about and have safe and legal access to cannabis." 
Chavez formed the Orange County Cannabis Club, later renamed the Orange County Patient Doctor Nurse Support Group, shortly after California voters approved Proposition 215, which made it legal to use marijuana medicinally with a doctor's recommendation, back in November 1996. He had campaigned for Prop. 215, become friendly with Anna Boyce, the Mission Viejo nurse who was a campaign spokesperson, and hoped to do it right. He tried several times to talk with then-sheriff Brad Gates about implementing Prop. 215, smoothly and legally, but was rebuffed.So he started a patient group, developed bylaws, rules, forms and membership cards, started seminars with doctors and health workers, and began making medical cannabis available to patients. Each bag had the group's address and was marked "Not for Sale." The day after an appearance before the Garden Grove City Council an undercover cop with a phony but genuine-looking doctor's letter pleaded with Chavez to give him some marijuana now, before the normal process of verifying the recommendation was complete. Letting his compassion overcome his caution, Marvin did so and was immediately arrested. Some time later two other undercover cops pulled a similar scam on him and he was arrested again.Marvin was offered several deals that would involve no prison time, but turned them down. But at the end of his trial Judge Thomas J. Borris instructed the jury that it was not to take Prop. 215 or medical use of marijuana into account. After conviction, Judge Borris sentenced him to six years in state prison. In April, after 15 months inside, he was released on bond while his appeal is pending. Marvin Chavez is a patient himself. He has a rare genetic degenerative spinal disorder called Ankylosing Spondylitis, which makes the spine slowly disintegrate, triggered by an injury. He was misdiagnosed for years and given dozens of prescription painkillers. The medications had severe side effects and caused deep depression. "For two years I was almost literally a hermit," he told me. "I sat in my bedroom in pain and felt sorry for myself."He heard about marijuana at an ALS support group meeting and tried it. It relieved most of his pain and he came out of his shell. Born in New Mexico in 1955 and raised mostly in East L.A., Marvin joined the Marine Corps reserve at 17, worked construction jobs, had his own company, worked as a movie extra, and in 1990 went to prison for cocaine possession. That was where the accident occurred that triggered his disease.He's holding regular meetings of the Patient Doctor Nurse group (the next one is Wednesday at 6 p.m., Social Science Plaza B at UC Irvine),but no distribution. He's preparing packets of information for Sheriff Mike Carona, the supervisors, local officials and doctors. "Standing up for your rights is hard sometimes, but it builds inner strength and serenity," he says.Note: Faces of freedom profiles individuals who have, in ways great and small, championed the cause of human liberty.Today meet Marvin Chavez, the Santa Ana resident who founded a medical-marijuana club after Proposition 215 was approved by the state's voters in 1996, but was arrested and convicted for marijuana sales. News Article Courtesy Of MapInc.Faces Of Freedom: A Crusader For Medical Marijuanahttp://mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n796/a07.htmlPublished: Sunday June 11, 2000 Copyright: 2000 The Orange County RegisterMaking War On Free Speech - Alan Bockhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread6010.shtmlRelated Articles:Better Climate for 215 http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread3995.shtml2 Pot Co-Op Figures Let Off The Hook http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread3965.shtmlJail Patient Captured in Marijuana Law's Crackshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread2303.shtmlMan of the Year: Marvin Chavezhttp://www.ocweekly.com/ink/archives/99/17man-schou.shtml
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Comment #2 posted by kaptinemo on June 13, 2000 at 06:37:35 PT:
FIJA!
'But at the end of his trial Judge Thomas J. Borris instructed the jury that it was not to take Prop. 215 or medical use of marijuana into account.'Let's see now: a *judge* instructs a jury to NOT pay any attention to a *law*. Surely I am not the only person this morning who grasps the terrible irony of this. A judge... tells a jury that they must *not* recognize a *law* as a defense. An instance of conduct approved by law...is punished.Any smart defense lawyer worth his salt may now use what every judge practically pees in his pants to have happen in his courtroom: the jury nullification card. Because if a *judge* may instruct a jury to disregard a law, then so may a criminal defense attorney, and inform the jury that they have the right to acquit via nullification... and the judge would have to permit it. BECAUSE THIS FOOL JUDGE IN CALIFORNIA HAS JUST SET A PRECEDENT! And the wonderful thing about this absurdity is... that there are no laws (so far as I know) against jury nullification or to *advise a jury about it's right to that option*. That is, unless I am mistaken, a First Amendment matter.This is rich. That judge in California has just shot in the foot every criminal prosecutor looking to make a name for him/herself by seeming tough on cannabis users.
Fully-Infomed Jury Association
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Comment #1 posted by Dan B on June 12, 2000 at 21:01:11 PT:
McWilliams All Over
"Marvin was offered several deals that would involve no prison time, but turned them down. But at the end of his trial Judge Thomas J. Borris instructed the jury that it was not to take Prop. 215 or medical use of marijuana into account."Sounds like the McWilliams' case all over again. The prevailing strategy in the courts now seems to be "plead out or we'll take away your defense." This behavior is clearly unconstitutional (but then, we know that don't we? So is the rest of the WoD). Thanks to Marvin Chavez and others like him for your devotion to helping the sick receive the medicine they need and deserve. 
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