CANNABIS CONVICTION UPHELD BY STATE COURT

SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) -- A California appeals court ruled in San Francisco
Thursday that the state's medical marijuana law does not protect a Larkspur
man who got a doctor's approval for the drug three months after he was
arrested.

Serge Rigo was convicted in Marin County Superior Court in 1997 and
sentenced by Judge Vernon Smith to probation for marijuana cultivation
after the prosecution and defense stipulated to the facts of the case.

According to the stipulations, Twin City police officers who searched
Rigo's home on Nov. 5, 1996, found four marijuana branches hanging in his
garage, marijuana cuttings and more than three pounds of marijuana.

Rigo said he suffered from gastritis and had decided to self-medicate with
marijuana, which he had learned about as a gastritis treatment while living
in Switzerland.

Three months after the arrest, a psychiatrist who reviewed Rigo's records
found that he suffered from chronic gastritis and authorized him to use
marijuana for medical reasons.

A three-judge Court of Appeal panel unanimously rejected Rigo's bid to have
his conviction set aside under the Compassionate Use Act, the medical
marijuana initiative passed by state voters as Proposition 215 in 1996.

The law forbids prosecution of patients who possess or cultivate marijuana
for personal medical purposes upon the recommendation or approval of a doctor.

The appeals panel said allowing the application of Prop. 215 under the
facts of Rigo's case would "frustrate the intent of the voters."