MEDICAL POT LAW DIDN'T SHIELD UNION WOMAN!

SALEM, Ore. - Oregon's landmark law allowing the use of marijuana for
medical purposes didn't protect a Union woman from a felony conviction.

Although Pam Pedro's conviction was dismissed last week after she went
through four months of probation and supervised drug-alcohol classes, she
wants her record expunged.
"I had never been arrested -- not even a speeding ticket ... Now I have a
felony record," she said. "How can they pass a law and have nothing in it
to protect us?"

Pedro said she uses marijuana to ease severe muscle spasms in her back, the
result of an automobile accident in 1971. She said she began using
marijuana as soon as the law became effective on Dec 1.

Pedro's doctor did not issue a prescription, because at the time, she said
he did not know the protocol. She did have a letter saying that her doctor
knew she used marijuana for pain.

In early January, Oregon State Police officers and a drug task force
knocked on her door.

"They said an informant had told them I was growing marijuana in the
closet," Pedro said. "I wasn't growing marijuana. I showed them everything."

The police found about 32 grams of marijuana -- four grams more than the
legally allowed 28 grams (1 ounce), according to records.

"They said not to worry about being arrested -- there'd be no ticket,"
Pedro said.

Two weeks later, police again arrived and arrested Pedro on a felony
warrant for possessing more than an ounce of marijuana. Court records show
that the warrant was issued from a secret indictment.

Pedro was put in jail, but friends paid her bail and she was released. Her
marijuana paraphernalia was seized.

Pedro said nobody seemed familiar with the new law, and was surprised when
her court-appointed attorney, Kip Roberson, advised her to plead guilty to
the charge despite her doctor's letter.

"I don't think I was well represented. I asked my lawyer about the law, and
he said that the law didn't matter, 'when you smoke, it's illegal."'

Roberson, however, denied that he had given that advice.

"I never advise my clients how to plead -- that's a personal policy of
mine," Roberson said. "I tell my clients where they have possible defenses
or the state has proof against them."

Roberson said that without the medical marijuana card, Pedro had no defense
against a possession charge.

"She didn't have that defense," he said. "She didn't have any medical proof."

Pedro was given a conditional discharge and a $1,000 suspended fine. She
was ordered to pay $164, which she did.

On July 23, an order terminating Pedro's probation was signed, and she
received word that the case had been dismissed.

Pedro has not decided whether to appeal.

She said she estimates that she has lost about $600 worth of supplies, and
she has paid $250 for fines and court costs. She also paid $25 per month
for four months in probation costs. She received a $28.50 refund, she said.