JUSTICES TO RULE ON MEDICAL POT USE

Five years after voters passed Proposition 215 sanctioning medical
marijuana use, the California Supreme Court agreed Wednesday to decide
whether the law creates immunity from prosecution or only an affirmative
defense once a person faces formal charges.

The justices will also contemplate standards for law enforcement to
determine how many plants a patient can have before prosecutors can file
felony cultivation charges.

"Each of the 58 counties has its own standards as to a threshold number of
plants which a qualified patient may cultivate or possess before he or she
becomes subject to prosecution, usually initiated by an arrest and/or
confiscation of the 'excess' plants," wrote Richard Runcie, the Fresno
attorney appointed to represent Myron Mower on appeal.

Chief Justice Ronald George and Justices Stanley Mosk, Joyce Kennard,
Kathryn Mickle Werdegar and Janice Rogers Brown voted to grant review.

Mower of Tuolumne County is described in court records as a seriously ill,
blind diabetic who has used marijuana to control his nausea and stimulate
his appetite for more than 20 years. When he is unable to use marijuana, he
is essentially bedridden and has uncontrolled vomiting. He requires several
hospital stays each year, Runcie stated in his petition for review.

Mower had been convicted for pot cultivation and placed on probation in
1993. After the Compassionate Use Act of 1996, law enforcement officials
went to his home on at least two occasions - ultimately finding 31
marijuana plants. That was 28 more than the three-plant rule adopted in
Tuolumne County allows.

A Fifth District panel affirmed his conviction.