PAIR GETS CHANCE TO DEFEND POT USE

A Guerneville couple charged with growing marijuana for sale may
escape prosecution under an offer by the district attorney to let them
try to prove their claims of medical use to a doctors review board.

In what would be the first such use of the newly created board, Lori
Converse and her caregiver, William McConnell, will try to win
approval for their cultivation based on records outlining Converse's
long battle with degenerative disc disease and other back ailments
stemming from two car crashes.

In the meantime, their court case was postponed Friday so Converse can
have a doctor petition the board for review of the case.

Supporters of medical marijuana use hailed the decision as enlightened
and judicious, applauding District Attorney Mike Mullins for his
willingness to try to make California's 1996 medical marijuana law
work.

"I actually am lauding the district attorney's offer in this and his
willingness to review the facts and merit of the case," said Jamie
Thistlethwaite, Converse's attorney.

"From the very beginning I thought I was doing the right thing,"
Converse said in an interview outside court, seated at a hallway bench
while her 16- year old son gently massaged her spine.

"I was blown away that they threw me in jail and treated me so
brutally in the first place. I figured being broken and all that
they'd take that into consideration."

It's not clear when the case might go before the review panel,
established by the Sonoma County Medical Association in the fall and
set to hold its first confidential hearings next month.

But there also could be a problem. The medical group specifically
wanted to avoid taking cases already involved in prosecution in order
to prevent the possibility that they or a patient's confidential
medical records could be subpoenaed, legal counsel Larry McLaughlin
said.

Mullins acknowledged the board was established to only review cases in
which no arrest or prosecution was pending, but said he believed there
were several exceptions involved in Converse's case.

They include the fact her September arrest came just one day after law
enforcement officials and the medical community launched the board.

But Mullins, who said he was alerted to the case only Friday morning,
said he'd also reviewed some of Converse's records, and "there is
reason to believe she has a serious illness within the meaning of the
(medical marijuana) statute."

The physicians on the review board have final say in the matter and
could refuse to take Converse's case.

Converse, 33, who walks unevenly even with a cane, said marijuana has
offered so much relief from her back injuries that she's been able to
go without morphine and other drugs her doctors used to prescribe.

She still was taking morphine when she and McConnell, 43, were
arrested Sept. 17, and said she was forced to withdraw cold turkey
from the medication during six days in jail.

McConnell later was jailed for three more weeks when he was unable to
provide a urine sample to probation officials.

She says she had two letters from doctors authorizing her marijuana
use at the time of her arrest, but was taken to jail anyway, along
with McConnell.

The two were scheduled to appear back in court Feb. 24 to determine if
the case will go forward or be dismissed.

Checked-by: Rich O'Grady