cannabisnews.com: Testimony Blocked in Suit by Medicinal User of Pot Testimony Blocked in Suit by Medicinal User of Pot Posted by FoM on August 02, 2000 at 06:24:32 PT State News Source: Los Angeles Times A witness who was prepared to testify about the limits on how many marijuana plants can be grown by medicinal users was blocked from doing so Tuesday in the false-arrest suit brought against police by a Simi Valley man. After a hearing without the jury present, Judge Kent Kellegrew ruled that self-described marijuana expert Chris Conrad could not testify that police acted unreasonably when they arrested Rex Dean Jones in 1998 for growing more than the two plants permitted by the Simi Valley Police Department's medical-use guidelines. The 64-year-old retiree has diabetes and hypertension. Jones' attorney, J. David Nick, argued that the guidelines were flawed because they were based on recommendations from then-Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren, who vociferously opposed Proposition 215, the medical marijuana initiative. Lungren's reasoning, Nick said, was based on the assumption that one marijuana plant produces one pound of the drug, something that "no one could reasonably believe." Conrad would have testified that even under the most ideal circumstances one plant can only produce five ounces of the drug, according to Nick. But the judge said scientific accuracy isn't relevant. Instead, he said, the jury needs to consider whether the arresting officers acted under the belief that Jones was violating the law. Later Tuesday, Jones testified that he had never gotten more than four ounces of pot from any of his backyard plants. Ventura County prosecutors eventually dropped all charges related to the marijuana cultivation after confirming that Jones is a qualified medicinal marijuana patient. Jones is seeking unspecified damages. Contact: letters latimes.com Simi Valley, Calif. Published: Wednesday, August 2, 2000 Copyright 2000 Los Angeles Times Related Articles & Web Site:Chris Conrad's Biohttp://www.chrisconrad.com/ChrisBio.htmlStates Medicinal Pot Law Proves to Be Can of Wormshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread6487.shtmlHopes of Medicinal Marijuana Backers Buoyedhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/4/thread4306.shtmlCannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archives:http://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml END SNIP --> Snipped Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #3 posted by MenDontSEEno on August 03, 2000 at 10:00:34 PT: AmountS the feds dont want cripples to Have 5000 dollar a Pound Organic weed Cause they Cant get there Taxation On! Personally im a Back Cripple and I Can Smoke a Pound a Medication a Month If i Had that Much!! EveryBody has a Different Pain Threshold,And doctors cant Even Figure The right way to to deal with each Patients Needs [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by kaptinemo on August 02, 2000 at 08:43:26 PT: Excuse me, but where does it mention 'limits'? Having read the text of Prop215, I see nowhere any mention of limits. Not of plants, or amount of the raw drug to be possessed by the patients. I'm no judge or lawyer, but it seems to me that any arbitrary determination of a legal possession amount by non-elected representatives is, itself, a gross violation of that law. Prop 215 has been blasted in the conventional news media as being 'too vague'. There is nothing 'vague' about it at all to anyone who possesses a modicum of reading and comprehesion skills; there's no mention of limits because *none were ever intended*. Period. This is so obvious it's a wonder that the major news media haven't tumbled to this pathetic attempt on the part of law enforcement to use every means possible - including a dangerous skirting of the law - to maintain a prohibition when the people so clearly voted to *dismantle* it.Keep pushing, all you narcs. Keep skirting the law. Keep imprisoning and killing cannabis users. Keep on making sick excuses for your petty tyrannies. The Breyer decision. The Abrams Report. Apprendi. The Ontario Court of Appeals. Step by step, the ground you thought was so solid and immovable is turning into quicksand. You're ankle-deep right now. You have a chance to get out if you make the right move fast enough. But most narcs won't. They'll thrash around some more, thinking they can macho their way out by being even 'tougher on drugs' and never realize they are only sinking deeper. They deserve what they are about to get. [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by Dan B on August 02, 2000 at 06:57:22 PT: They Call This Man A Judge? "But the judge said scientific accuracy isn't relevant. Instead, he said, the jury needs to consider whether the arresting officers acted under the belief that Jones was violating the law."By this "logic," as long as the police don't know the law, they can arrest at will. Where did they get this judge, who clearly has no understanding of nor regard for the law? If I were a cop in his district, I'd arrest him because I thought that wearing a black robe in public was against the law. Then, I'd use his own ruling against him. "Hey, I thought you were violating the law!"This guy must be either a complete idiot or the best buddy of drug-warmongers everywhere. Or both. Probably both. [ Post Comment ] Post Comment Name: Optional Password: E-Mail: Subject: Comment: [Please refrain from using profanity in your message] Link URL: Link Title: