BAIL FOR CHAVEZ

Judge Thomas Borris, who presided over Marvin Chavez's trial almost 18
months ago and imposed a harsh six-year prison sentence, surprised most of
those in the courtroom last Friday by allowing the medical-marijuana
activist to be released on bail pending his appeal.

It took a bit longer than expected for his supporters to raise the bail
bond money, but Mr. Chavez should be back home in Orange County sometime
today. Mr. Chavez founded the Orange County Patient, Doctor, Nurse Support
Group in 1997 to provide medical marijuana to patients after the passage of
Proposition 215. He was convicted in late 1998 of selling marijuana to
undercover police officers and has spent the last year in state prison in
Susanville and Vacaville.

The decision to release Mr. Chavez on bail was a sound one. As Judge Borris
noted, Marvin Chavez has strong ties to the community so he doesn't pose a
flight risk, his activities don't pose a danger to the community (his
patient support group was helping sick people get access to a medicine that
helps them, not selling to kids on the street) and his appeal raises
substantial legal issues.

Several courts have rendered decisions on issues related to the state's
medical-marijuana initiative (Prop. 215) since Mr. Chavez's conviction.
Taken together they make the possibility of his conviction being overturned
stronger than a few months ago.

Why should he stay in jail for as long as a year - the time the state Court
of Appeal is likely to take to render a decision - if there's a chance the
appeals process will free him?

An important new legal factor was an appeals court decision to overturn the
conviction of David Herrick; the former San Bernardino County lawman who
worked with Marvin Chavez and was convicted earlier on similar charges.
"I'm very excited for Marvin," Mr. Herrick told us Tuesday. "The prison
where he spent most of last year - Susanville - I wouldn't wish on my worst
enemy, let alone a disabled man like Marvin."

In addition, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeal ruled last September that even
under federal law a "medical necessity" defense must be considered by the
lower court that had ordered the Oakland Cannabis Buyers Club to be shut down.

That ruling weakens arguments that federal law blocks implementation of
Prop. 215 as it is codified in Section 11362.5 of the California Health and
Safety Code - including methods for supplying cannabis to patients who are
unable to grow their own - by working out guidelines acceptable to patients
and prosecutors alike. (Section 11362.5 authorizes qualified patients to
use, possess and cultivate marijuana for medicinal purposes.)

Judge Borris, seconded by Mr. Chavez's attorney, J. David Nick, expressed
the hope that the state appeals courts will issue more comprehensive,
authoritative and helpful rulings on Section 11362.5 than have come down to
date. That would be one way to make this law, passed by the people back in
1996, finally effective.

It should be noted, however, that state Attorney General Bill Lockyer, who
ran as a supporter of medical marijuana, has more authority than he has
used to date to ease implementation.

True enough, SB 848, a bill that emerged from Mr. Lockyer's task force,
failed in the face of a threatened veto from Gov. Gray Davis. But Mr.
Lockyer, who is constitutionally charged with "uniformly and adequately
enforcing" state law, has authority to issue guidelines - as then-Attorney
General Lungren did after Prop. 215 was passed - to help local police and
prosecutors. And he can certainly order his own department not to cooperate
in unwarranted local prosecutions.

Marvin Chavez may be out on bail. But the law passed by the people more
than three years ago is still held hostage.