MEDICAL MARIJUANA USER GETS 3 YEARS' PROBATION

A Newbury Park man faces three years on probation after pleading guilty
Wednesday to charges of marijuana possession, authorities said.

Mike Loftus, 39, pleaded guilty to one count of possessing more than one
ounce of marijuana and was sentenced to 36 months of probation and ordered
to pay a $500 fine by Ventura Superior Court Judge James Cloninger. The
judge had previously dismissed other counts, Deputy District Attorney Ryan
Wright said.

Loftus was arrested in October, when Ventura County Sheriff's deputies found
29 plants and approximately one pound of marijuana in his home. Loftus, 33,
uses marijuana to deal with an inner-ear disease, and suggested at the time
of his arrest that he had been singled out by authorities.

Proposition 215, California's medical-marijuana law, does not spell out how
much of the drug can be held by an individual.

The county's guideline allows medicinal marijuana users either six mature
plants or one pound of processed marijuana.