UKIAH, Calif. (Reuters) - Christopher Brown sauntered into the Ukiah
sheriff's office Thursday and walked out with a half pound bag of marijuana.

In what is believed to be one of the first cases in the United States of
someone legally retrieving a drug stash seized by law enforcement, Brown's
victory marked a turning point in California's battle over medical
marijuana, his lawyer said.

"It's the first time a person has walked out of a police station with
marijuana legally in their hands," attorney Hannah Nelson told Friday's
Santa Rosa Press Democrat.

"The fact is that the marijuana was being used legally and he has a right to
it." Local drug agents confiscated Brown's marijuana during a 1997 raid on
his house in Willits, about 120 miles north of San Francisco.

Brown took his case to the California Supreme Court, saying he was using the
marijuana in line with Proposition 215, California's first-in-the-nation law
that legalized the use of marijuana for the treatment of pain and symptoms
of serious diseases such as AIDS and cancer.

Now 37, Brown says he smokes up to two marijuana cigarettes a day to
alleviate chronic pain from injuries suffered in a motorcycle accident.

The state Supreme Court justices dismissed the government's contention that
any order forcing police to return the marijuana would transform officers
into "drug pushers" and ordered the stash worth about $2,000 handed back to
Brown.

"We do definitely see this as a big deal," Gina Pesulima of Americans for
Medical Rights, a California-based group that has pushed for state measures
legalizing medical marijuana around the country, said Friday.

"We think it's great because it's what we'd like to see eventually in
California and other places ... we'd like to see law enforcement on board,"
she said.

Brown said Thursday that he hoped his case would open the way for more
people to get their marijuana back from the police and use it according to
California state law -- under doctor's orders.

"It feels good. I feel I've stood up for a lot of people who need marijuana
for medical reasons," Brown told the Press Democrat.