MED POT USERS GET BREAK IN CALIFORNIA

The California Supreme Court Gives Them Some Immunity From Prosecution

SAN FRANCISCO- Medical marijuana users can get some immunity from criminal
prosecution, the California Supreme Court ruled yesterday.

People who use medical marijuana and are arrested on drug charges can use
their status in their defense before a trial starts, and if their cases do
go to trial, the burden to show they have valid prescriptions is reduced,
the court ruled. The ruling also applies to primary caregivers of medical
marijuana users.

"For marijuana patients, it means they will be treated exactly the same as
patients of physicians who receive a prescription," said Gerald Uelmen, who
represented a medical marijuana patient convicted of possessing and
cultivating the drug. "The law in California has been, if you are charged
with unlawful possession of prescription drugs, all you have to do is raise
a reasonable doubt that you have a valid prescription."

That is a reduction in the degree of proof previously needed.

State Attorney General Bill Lockyer, whose office prosecuted the case, also
applauded the decision.

"As a supporter of Proposition 215, I believe that the court's decision
strikes an appropriate balance in helping to ensure that truly needy
patients whose doctors have recommended medical marijuana to alleviate pain
and suffering related to serious illnesses will have access to this
medicine under California law," he said in a written statement.

California was the nation's first state to approve medical marijuana in
1996 with the passage of Proposition 215, the Compassionate Use Act.
Nonetheless, the U.S. Supreme Court said last year that it is illegal to
sell or possess marijuana for medical use.

The ruling stems from the arrest and conviction of Myron Mower, who uses
marijuana to alleviate complications from diabetes. Mower was arrested in
1997 and convicted of possessing and cultivating marijuana.

The appeals court affirmed Mower's conviction and rejected his argument
that his medical marijuana user status gave him complete immunity from pro
secution, including from arrest.

The state high court sent the case back to the appeals court, ordering a
new trial for Mower.

In its ruling, the state Supreme Court stated that a section of California
law "reasonably must be interpreted to grant a defendant a limited immunity
from prosecution," wrote Chief Justice Ronald George for the unanimous court.