POT PATIENT CHOOSES JAIL OVER ABSTAINING

OROVILLE - A man who claims marijuana is his medicine turned himself
in to jail Tuesday because he said he couldn't comply with a Butte
County judge's order to not use the drug.

Joel Kelly Castle, 62, said he did not have the change of heart
discussed in front of Judge Clare Keithley Nov. 2.

"I'm remanding myself under protest of them taking away my
Proposition 215 rights," of medical marijuana, Castle said.

Castle claims he was operating a legal medical marijuana collective
out of his home before his arrest.

He is accused of trading two ounces of marijuana with an undercover
Chico police officer for an acoustic guitar after responding to an ad
on craigslist, an Internet shopping service.

After Castle's arrest, police reportedly recovered 5 and a half
pounds of packaged marijuana and a loaded firearm in his motel room.

His court-appointed attorney, Larry Willis, said on his client's
decision to go to jail that, "I think he's out of his ever-lovin' mind."

Willis already raised a doubt as to Castle's mental competency but a
report from Dr. Don Stembridge found him competent to stand trial.

"Why anybody would want to go into custody - he can't smoke dope in
jail," Willis said. "Why he doesn't do it discretely, I don't know."