LOCAL MARIJUANA ACTIVIST PLEADS NOT GUILTY TO CHARGE

Medicinal marijuana proponent Todd McCormick, a cancer patient arrested in
July for allegedly growing thousands of pot plants in a rented house in
BelAir, pleaded not guilty Monday to federal drug charges. Kirill Dyjine,
an alleged accomplice of McCormick also known as Hermes Zygott, also
pleaded not guilty in federal court in Los Angeles to an identical charge
of manufacturing 4,116 marijuana plants, said Assistant U.S. Atty. Fernando
L. AenlleRocha. Joel Isaacson, an attorney for McCormick, said Monday
that he plans to file a motion this week asking for a modification of the
terms of McCormick's bail. Isaacson hopes the court will allow his client
to take a prescribed medication containing a synthetic version of the
painkillers active in marijuana. McCormick, 27, has said he cultivated pot
plants to fight pain from the cancer he has had since childhood.
McCormick's trial is set for Dec. 9.

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