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US MT: Medicinal Marijuana User Won't Face Trial
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04/n1277/a06.html
Newshawk: End Marijuana Prohibition: www.mpp.org
Votes: 0
Pubdate: Thu, 09 Sep 2004
Source: Missoulian (MT)
Copyright: 2004 Missoulian
Contact: oped@missoulian.com
Website: http://www.missoulian.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/720
Note: Only prints letters from within its print circulation area
Author: Ginny Merriam
Cited: Medical Marijuana Policy Project of Montana
http://www.montanacares.org
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/props.htm (Ballot Initiatives)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)
MEDICINAL MARIJUANA USER WON'T FACE TRIAL
The Missoula woman charged in May with possession of dangerous drugs and
drug paraphernalia because of her medicinal use of marijuana will not be
prosecuted if she is "law abiding" for the next nine months.
But it's not clear what she'll have to do to be "law abiding" and whether
her continued use of marijuana for her chronic illness and pain would send
her to court.
In an agreement with prosecutors, Robin Prosser said she will "remain law
abiding and shall commit no acts that could result in charges for violations
of federal, state or local law." However, that agreement also says,
"Defendant's use of treatment recommended by her health care providers for
her chronic painful permanent medical condition is not a violation of this
subsection."
Prosser's case presented authorities with a unique situation that began May
10 after she tried to kill herself with prescription drugs in her Missoula
apartment. When her psychologist, Paul Bach, discovered a suicide e-mail
from Prosser that morning in his office computer, he went to her apartment.
He called police when she didn't answer the door. Inside her apartment,
where Prosser was semiconscious, police officers found a small amount of
marijuana and pipes for smoking it. She was charged with possession of
dangerous drugs and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Prosser has lived nearly 20 years with an immunosuppressive disorder that's
related to lupus. It causes bone pain, muscle spasticity, irritable bowel,
constant migraines, spinal pain and other symptoms. She is allergic to
narcotic prescription drugs. The only thing that has given her relief, she
says, is marijuana, which she smokes. But the strain and expense of getting
the illegal drug is difficult, and the dry spells are overwhelming. She has
lived on Social Security disability for 14 years and has lost nearly
everything she owns.
Two years ago, Prosser fasted for more than a month in a public plea for the
legalization of the use of marijuana for medical purposes.
She appeared in court on May 27. She told a reporter that day, "I couldn't
get the medicine I needed. So I decided I'd rather die than live with that
pain."
Prosser did not want to plead guilty because she was afraid of the maximum
sentence Judge Don Louden told her she could draw - one year in jail. She
had no money to hire an attorney, she said. But Missoula defense attorney
John E. Smith volunteered to represent her free.
Short of an outright dismissal, Smith said, the deferred prosecution
agreement is the best result for Prosser.
"Trials are stressful," he said. "She doesn't need more stress in her life.
She has only so much energy."
The agreement is best for everybody, he said.
"It's a win-win," he said. "The prosecution is not giving up the ability to
prosecute the case, and my client's not giving up the right to defend
herself."
City authorities are vague about what the "use of treatment recommended by
her health care providers" means. Assistant City Attorney Judy Wang would
not say whether "treatment" includes the medicinal use of marijuana.
The agreement is not an attempt to weigh in on the controversial topic of
medical marijuana, she said, which is the subject of an initiative that will
appear on the Montana ballot in November.
"Each case needs to be evaluated on its unique facts," Wang said. "That was
the best just resolution.
"It just seemed like a reasonable resolution given the facts and
circumstances of the case," she said.
Paul Befumo, the campaign spokesman for the Medical Marijuana Policy Project
of Montana's effort to get voters to approve Initiative 148 protecting
patients, doctors and caregivers from arrest and prosecution, considers the
agreement in Prosser's case a victory.
"They basically have passed I-148, but only for her," he said. "The rest of
the people of Montana deserve the same consideration. It's definitely a
good resolution for Robin."
Missoula Police Capt. Marty Ludemann said that the use of marijuana, even
if recommended by a health care provider, could not be included as a
treatment that's considered law abiding, even if it's recommended by a
health care provider.
"It can't be marijuana," he said. "Montana doesn't recognize medical
marijuana. The court can't condone the use of medical marijuana. The judge
can't condone the use of illegal drugs for any medical condition."
Law enforcement has to abide by the wishes of the Legislature, he said.
"If it happened tomorrow under the same circumstances, we would arrest her
again," he said.
That's true, said Smith.
"The police were doing their job as the Legislature sees the law," he said.
"Personally, I feel that people should be able to use this drug medically if
they need it, whether it's Marinol or whatever form they need."
Bach, who has been Prosser's psychologist for six years, said that
"recommend" is too strong a word for his role in her medical use of
marijuana. He is not licensed to prescribe drugs. However, he said, he has
never tried to dissuade her.
"The longer I've known her, the more apparent it's been to me that it is of
therapeutic value to her," he said.
There is significant existing science, he said, to support marijuana's
benefit in certain cases. Prosser's suicide attempt was a serious one,
without question, he said.
Prosser, who asked Smith to talk about the case for her, is in a hard spot
because the drug Marinol does not work for her. Marinol contains a
synthetic version of the active ingredient in marijuana.
"The ingestion of marijuana, the use of that substance, is the only way for
her to get relief," he said. "She does much better with her pain, and she's
much more cogent with the use of marijuana."
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake
***********************
Mark
"Marijuana clearly has medicinal value.
Thousands of seriously ill Americans have
been able to determine that for themselves,
albeit illegally. Like my own family, these
individuals did not wish to break the law but
they had
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I will post the story later today, It's not on the web but I have a
video capture of
the news broadcast and a newspaper story that I have to type in
manually. The video is 23 Mbs.
Here's a summary:
Glenville, NY. - Schenectady County
A couple was stopped on Rt.50 in Glenville for driving with studded snow
tires.
The cop smelled marijuana and found the passenger to have a small
amount. The girl
produced her Universal Life Church Minister certification along with her
Hawaian
Cannibis Ministrty user card. On arraignment she said she uses marijuana
as part
of her religion. The judge said That's ridiculous and will hold a trial
on Oct 5th.
The judge said that the idea that drugs can be used as part of religion
is
ridiculous. The defendant asked the judge not to call her religion
ridiculous.
The girl's name is Megan Jones and her husband was driving.
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Nicholas Heyward wrote:
I will post the story later today, It's not on the web but I have a
video capture of
the news broadcast and a newspaper story that I have to type in
manually. The video is 23 Mbs.
Here's a summary:
Glenville, NY. - Schenectady County
A couple was stopped on Rt.50 in Glenville for driving with studded snow
tires.
The cop smelled marijuana and found the passenger to have a small
amount. The girl
produced her Universal Life Church Minister certification along with her
Hawaian
Cannibis Ministrty user card. On arraignment she said she uses marijuana
as part
of her religion. The judge said That's ridiculous and will hold a trial
on Oct 5th.
The judge said that the idea that drugs can be used as part of religion
is
ridiculous. The defendant asked the judge not to call her religion
ridiculous.
The girl's name is Megan Jones and her husband was driving.
If someone is interested in the video they can contact me at
morfmorfmorf@yahoo.com
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On Sat, 11 Sep 2004 16:54:39 GMT, Nicholas Heyward
<central222@hotmail.com>
Nicholas Heyward wrote:
If someone is interested in the video they can contact me at
morfmorfmorf@yahoo.com
just post it to a binary group.
--
There's no way to delay that trouble comin' everyday
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