MEDICAL MARIJUANA DEFENSE FALTERS

SNOW HILL -- A Whaleyville man's attempt to beat the drug charges against
him by claiming he used marijuana as a homeopathic cure for depression
proved unsuccessful at his trial last Friday.

Christopher Jason Foskey, 27, was found guilty in Worcester County Circuit
Court of one count of possessing controlled production equipment. A second
charge of possession of marijuana was dropped by prosecutors. Foskey was
sentenced to 30 days in jail, to be served over 15 weekends.

In what had the potential to be a precedent-setting case, Foskey, through
his attorney, J. Harrison Phillips III, had tried to take advantage of
Maryland's new law that decriminalized marijuana use for medicinal
purposes. Cases of marijuana possession where medicinal use is proved do
not result in jail time and only carry a maximum $100 fine. Judge Theodore
Eschenburg ruled against the medicinal use defense before handing down the
sentence.

Foskey was arrested on April 16, 2003 after his landlord spotted suspected
marijuana plants in his unit. A Worcester County Narcotics Unit detective
then found 37, week-old, marijuana plants that were about an inch high and
controlled paraphernalia.