JUDGE ISSUES ADVICE WITH SENTENCES IN MEDICAL MARIJUANA CASES

Superior court judge Dennis Murray attempted to clarify the medical
marijuana laws that he called ambiguous in two separate cases Tuesday.
Murray attempted to make the law easier for the men assigning specific
amounts of how much marijuana they can possess at one time.

Alvin Glen Goodwin, 52, was sentenced to three years probation and 90
days in jail after he pleaded guilty to cultivating marijuana. Goodwin
was limited to 3 1/4 pounds of mature cannabis.

Goodwin said he uses the drug for back pain after a surgery in the
late 1990s. He had a recommendation from a doctor that specified 3.5
pounds of mature marijuana a year. However, Goodwin was found in
possession of much more than that.

His attorney Thomas Hilligan said Goodwin was growing the plant for
himself and others with medical marijuana recommendations who "lacked
a green thumb with regards to marijuana."

In a statement to the court, Goodwin said he has been growing the
plant for five years and has always worked with the Tehama County
Sheriff's Department to grow the drug legally. He said this year he
had a bumper crop and as in the past, and planned to burn the excess.
He said he was arrested 10 days before burning was allowed in the county.

When Murray limited Goodwin's amount, Goodwin questioned how he would
grow enough for his needs.

"I understand your dilemma," Murray told him. "I don't have a solution
for your dilemma that I'm ready to give you. ... You put yourself in
this position by growing it illegally."

Murray added that there is a difference between possessing marijuana
for personal medical use and abusing the law and possessing the drug
for sale to others.

"The law allows for one, but the law does not allow for the other,"
Murray said. "There may be some ambiguity, but there is no ambiguity
in you can't grow it for someone else."

In another case, Raymond Richard Dewar, 64, was sentenced to five
years probation and 120 days in county jail after he pleaded guilty to
cultivating marijuana. Murray limited Dewar to one ounce of marijuana
or three plants at one time.

Dewar suffered a head injury in a motorcycle accident in 1983, his
attorney Eric Berg told the court Tuesday. Since that time, Dewar has
had three prior convictions in cases related to drugs use, which
Murray said made the medical marijuana recommendation a "particular
problem for this defendant."

Dewar's doctor recommendation did not specify a certain amount of
marijuana.

"Recommendations don't say how much a person should have," Murray
said. He compared the use of marijuana to Vicodin and said if someone
had a prescription for 90 Vicodin pills but had 500 pills, there would
be a clear violation.