MAN CAN USE MEDICAL MARIJUANA, COURT RULES

A Sutter County judge erred in not allowing a man who'd been
convicted of transporting methamphetamine to use medical marijuana,
appellate justices ruled.

In a 22-page ruling Friday, the 3rd District Court of Appeal in
Sacramento said Vernon Emile Smith Jr., 23, of Sacramento, had a
right to use the drug with a doctor's prescription under Proposition
215, or the Compassionate Use Act.

Judge Brian Aronson heard Smith's request in July 2009 to modify
terms of his probation, according to Sutter County Superior Court records.

In denying the request, the judge cited Smith's previous violation of
probation - misdemeanor vandalism - and the doctor's omission of the
exact reason why Smith needed medical marijuana. The doctor described
it as a "serious medical condition," according to the ruling.

The judge described Smith's citation of the Compassionate Use Act as
"insufficient," Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye wrote.

Smith's attorney at the time said the judge was "not in a position to
go behind the doctor-patient privilege and inquire as to the efficacy
of the doctor's statement," according to the ruling.

"Here, (the doctor's) professional opinion ... that defendant may
benefit from marijuana provided no basis for concluding that
defendant's showing of eligibility under the Compassionate Use Act
was 'insufficient,'" Cantil-Sakauye wrote.

The act allows probationers to ask courts for permission to use
medical marijuana. Smith "sufficiently established his eligibility to
use marijuana" under the act, she wrote.

"We do not perceive why and we are not inclined to speculate exactly
how defendant's showing could be viewed as insufficient when the
statute squarely places the onus on the trial court (not the
appellate court) to specify the reasons for its decision," she wrote.

She added, however, that "it is possible that a legitimate, rational
reason exists to preclude (Smith) from using medical marijuana while
on probation" and ordered a new hearing in Sutter County Superior Court.