MARIJUANA TRIAL: MEDICINE OR NOT?

Two men went on trial Monday in Sacramento Superior Court on charges that
they cultivated 390 marijuana plants, mainly in a Carmichael warehouse,
with the intention of illegally selling them.

Michael C. Urziceanu and Michael T. Reitmeier, both 37, describe themselves
as medical-marijuana patients who grew the pot for their own use under
provisions of Proposition 215.

But in opening statements, a prosecutor told jurors that the defendants
were making a sham of the 1996 proposition, which allowed the cultivation
of pot by seriously ill Californians.

"(Claiming) medicinal use is merely a scam," Deputy District Attorney
Caroline Park said. "It may be lawful for some people, but in this case,
they were growing it for sales."

The 385 plants found in the defendants' warehouse "were capable of
producing 64,000 joints ... way too much for personal use," she added.

Reitmeier's attorney, J. David Nick, told jurors the 64,000 estimate was a
gross exaggeration. He said the estimate came from a former state
Department of Justice employee who left DOJ "under a cloud" and who has
little knowledge of marijuana cultivation. The official, identified in open
court as Mick Mollica, is expected to testify for the prosecution.

Nick said the case against Reitmeier and Urziceanu involved "abuse of the law."

"The real question is who abused the law," Nick said in his opening
statement. "Was it the defendants or the police officers who assisted in
bringing this case to court?"

Reitmeier and Urziceanu had medical recommendations to use marijuana, he said.

Reitmeier, a cabinet maker, smoked marijuana to help alleviate arthritic
pain that began in the early 1990s, Nick said.

Urziceanu inhaled it to soothe lingering pain that began in the mid-1980s
when he broke his neck, Nick said. Urziceanu had been working as a
correctional officer in New Jersey.

After passage of Proposition 215, Reitmeier would travel to the Bay Area to
obtain his medical pot from a cannabis club, Nick said. It was at that
"dispenser" that both defendants met and became friends, Nick said.

"Both understood that when they needed cannabis, they had to drive to the
Bay Area to get it," Nick said.

Reitmeier remains free on bail.

Urziceanu, who is awaiting trial on two other marijuana-related cases, has
been unable to post bail and remains in Sacramento County Jail. Zenia Gilg,
the attorney for Urziceanu, contends both cases pertain to
medical-marijuana use.