on the hands of every judge, cop, and corrupt thoughtless politician who has ever supported prohibition. They all share some blame when tragedies like this occur.

Thanks for nothing Bob Barr...

Stupid, outrageous, marihauana prohibition killed another innocent person. How tragic.

What exactly did he die from? I understand that he suffered alot and I totaly agree he should have been given the pain method or ideally not even put in jail. I work in prison ministry and see alot of medical abuse's because they have their own closed system and if you mess with them they just restrict you from going in. I don't know the story here and I would like to know what he died from. Please answer.

There's a link to WP story that can fill you in.
I agree with 'more blood" post. This is a particularly terrible example of the blood that is on the hands of the scumbag alcohol supremacist bigot drug warriors. Amazing how evil can convince itself it's noble.

If this was medical marijuana and it was against the law why didn't they put the Dr in prison. Putting a paralyzed individual in prison and in pain is insane to begin with.Where was this judges compassion? The judge exposed his own shadow.

Why are people being arrested for consuming a PLANT? I mean, look at cannabis for what it really is:pain reliever,euphoria bringer,calming agent. I havent met a single cannabis smoker that becomes violent whilst stoned.Alcohol?...

The JUDGE was the guilty party...she killed this man because she had a burr up her ass when he didn't lie and pretend to be sorry for medicating himself. The judge should be taken off the bench, disbarred, charged with any crime that covers reckless judgement...which would never work, by the way. The judge will never face the music for her callous disregard for common sense and humanity. All we can hope for is that she actually does have some tiny shred of humanity in her and will look in the mirror every am and realize she killed a man for no reason at all.

Damn her and every judge that goes along with the prohibitionistic torture and murder of the innocent. If only they all had but one neck I could snap!!!

Yes the judge should have been more compassionate but she was only following the law. It's the law that needs to be changed. Until that happens the penalty for getting caught with marijuana will vary from nothing to a death sentence.

My 11 year old daughter just completed a D.A.R.E. course. It seems to be mostly propaganda because it only presents one side and that side is exaggerated. In addition to illegal drugs they also cover alcohol and tobacco. I asked my daughter why marijuana was illegal but alcohol and tobacco weren't. She had no idea. The D.A.R.E website even says there are no medical benefits to marijuana.

Marinol, Dronabinol, is allowed by Medicare, approved by the FDA, and accepted by the DEA. Sativex for Multiple Sclerosis Patients is legal in Canada, and being made available in the US by the FDA. Cannador, and Baclofen helps people with severe arthritic ailments. Reports provided by the MS Clinical Advisory Board describe numerous reports of the effectiveness of "Organic Cannabis, however do not recommend smoking it even though they reported, and confirmed that not one person has ever developed, or been associated , (even long-term cannabis smokers) with any kind of Cancer, including Oral, Esophageal, or Pulmonary. They even discovered that the cannabinoids in "Organic Marijuana", can reduce neuronal damage, and promote snaptic plasticity limiting neuron disease progression. So why if the less beneficial "synthetic marijuana" is completely 100% legal not the more healthier, and beneficial "organic marijuana" not? To weigh the evidence on the scales of justice you would have on one side evidence regarding the benefits of "organic medical marijuana" stacked from the floor to the ceiling, on the other side only rotten scent of vapors rising out of ignorance.

that goes to show ya police, judges, lawyers .politicians thats all that will be left after they convict the rest of us for who knows what ,and pardon or plea out ,as they stick money into each others pockets.and the rest of law enforcement. fbi cia (homeland security) THATS GOTTA BE AN OXY MORON.JUST LOOK AROUND.I lost faith in that bunch years ago and am now just holding my head down so i dont get charged with something i may not even know is against the LAW.BUT THATS JUST ME.

I only wish public knew what the financial settlement was because it sounds like a lot. If other cities knew, it would certainly put them on notice.

If you ever get on a jury on one of these cases. Keep your mouth shut until seated and then strt talking about jury nulification. The judge will repromand you but remind him your a seated jurist and ask or finfd the law does not apply in this case hence jury nulification.

Why is it that in every news story I ever hear reguarding a questionable judgement the name of the judge is with held? If We The People were told who these ass-in-nines were that make these jerks ass decisions than come election time we would vote them out of office. Instead we get this immunity from identity BS so no one knows who to vote for come election time. PRINT THE NAME OF THE JUDGE so we can than remind voters of these judges records and remove them from office !!

This is a disgraceful story and one I HOPE taught law in forcement a lesson.How awful .terrible that he had to suffer like that all those years and then suffer four days torture with no relief.Those that brought him to this place will have this to answer to the Lord for

This is utterly unforgivable. Supportive care of a quadriplegic person is difficult and requires training and years of experience to be done properly. The risk of complications is high and patients develop respiratory compromise and secondary infections very easily. Those of us with training and experience still struggle daily to keep our patients well. This poor young man's family has likely dedicated much of their time and lives to ensuring that he is comfortable and healthy. To have him taken away and thrown into jail, for the crimes of appropriately using medical marijuana and then choosing to be honest about it, is itself a crime. But to authorize this action knowing that the facility is not equipped with appropriate supportive equipment and lacks trained medical personnel was akin to signing his death warrant. Were no health care workers involved in this case? Why did no one speak up about the obvious and potentially lethal dangers of placing him in the facility?
A crime was clearly committed here. But not by Jonathan Magbie.

I think the judge should be punished for his "misjudgement". His punishment should be two fold... first he should have to pay the entire settlement himself. Secondly, Johnathan's family should get to stuff a 10 pound block of marijuana right up his ass!!

How did being in jail cause his death? That is the only relevant question.

another one of the many accomplishments by this bush/cheney team....congradulations guy's, you succeeded in killing this kid in prison...not to mention, flushing this country down the toilet in just 8 short years.....your legacy will be that of SHAME and DISGRACE ! and for all of you pathethic morons who voted for these rape artists, do us a favor...

DON'T BREED!

The main reason marijuana was made illegal was pressure (and money) from the liquor lobbys. They were losing money because people were getting happily stoned and didn't want to drink. Seagrams was the biggest contributor.

Your an a$$hole!

go to change.gov, voice your opinion, call your legislators, congressmen, senators. do it every day, tell a friend, do it every day. i have, ever since change.gov went on-line. if obama is going to change, marijuana will be the first change because he went to harvard, and they're supposed to be smart enough to know america has wasted billions upon billions of dollars so drug, tobacco,alcohol, and big brother lawyers and lobbyists can earn the big bucks while we have almost 13% of our prison population incarcerated for a medical marvel of a plant that anyone can grow for a multitude of reasons and its cash value as a product moneymaker would be beyond control.that's it, anyone can grow it, just about anywhere. they cannot control it, so they get to keep all your dollars and your common sense in their pockets.

Research on cannabinoids is showing what was touched on above: that endocannabinoids (our own natural, innate cannabinoid neurochemicals) are fully integrated into out nervous systems and are important for many, many basic functions throughout our bodies and there is good reason why exogenous (from outside the body) cannabinoids are considered to be the LEAST toxic psychoactive substance known to human kind (precisely because there are so many of these substances already running around in our bodies.) It's also the main reason that cannabinoids help with so many different types of medical conditions; these chemicals are involved with many different functions within the human body that are affected by a number of different illnesses. It's now understood that cannabinoids are extremely important for the pain (and other sensory) control systems in our bodies by virtue of the ability to antagonize (attenuate or blunt) N-methyl-D aspartic acid (NMDA) and glutamate, which are exictotoxic substances that are increased in many neurological diseases and which cause damage to the brain and a whole host of nasty, not fun symptoms. Forget all the propaganda. Although cannabinoids are known to have a mild affect on Long Term Potentiation and the formation of memory, the idea that these chemicals can somehow cause "brain damage" (of an unspecified nature) is completely wrong. By virtue of the NMDA/glutamate antagonistic affect, cannabinoids are actually neuroprotective and in illnesses which have a negative effects on the central nervous system, the attenuation of the effects of NMDA/glutamate can be extemely positive and actually cancel out the far greater "memory negative" and other negative effects of NMDA/glutamate. At the very least, when using cannabinoids for medical purposes, one is making a cost/benefit analysis that the benefits outweigh the negatives and at the most, actually helping the symptoms that can be (at least by the propagandistic viewpoint common to our society) caused by cannabinoid medications. In simple terms, what could cause mild memory problems in a healthy person can actually improve memory issues (and other symptoms) in a neurologically challenged person.

It's time we started using science as a barometer and not social mores or beliefs that are unfounded and incorrect to develop our laws; it's like "practicing" medicine in the modern age while using 17th century text books as a guide.

Also, I do want to mention that since the main aspect of this story regarded this man's poor medical care since being thrown into jail, it is AMAZING to me that this could happen. A man who is quadraplegic and needs a ventilator is put into jail?!?!?!?!? All over the medical usage of marijuana?!?!?! What was the justification? Was he going to "damage" himself by using marijuana? Compared to being put into a jail system without proper medical care, this is a non-argument. Where is the common sense? Have we gotten to the point where people can no longer use their intelligence and have abrogated the entire sum of their brains to the pursuit of blind allegiance to the "LAW" that they can no longer realize an obviously medically dangerous situation (at least to those with a few brain cells left after their coke binge parties? ...an attorney privilege ya know!)

This leads to the issue of whether Washington D.C. should have it's own judiciary since it is obvious that these decisions are overly influenced by the reigning politics within D.C.; if I lived there and had to go through something like this, I would seriously question whether I would get a "fair" trial living in D.C.

This is what happens when we let business and big money run our country.

I have a patient, also a quadriplegic, who smokes marijiuana for intractable muscle spasms. Even the marijiuana does not eradicate the spasms 100%. I have tryed medical marijiuana, Marino, did not work. Arsenal of medications for spasms, baclofen, valium, flexeril.....all useless and just put him to sleep.
There are times when this (pot) should be used medically. As a doctor I would prefer prescribing Pot over oxycodone any day.

I don't care if it was for medical use or not. The guy is a quad. What type of threat did he possibly pose to anyone? It is not like he was going to get high and drive a car. The judge should have given him a $25 fine and suspended it for one day of unsupervised probation. Then she should have told the prosecutor and cop not to do it again! I hope the final screams and cries of this young man keep that bitch from going to sleep every night.

What differance does it make what he died of, he would not have died if he had the proper care or they would not have settled.

The really sick people are the ones who continue to prosecute people over outdated pot laws.

the public pays, and the murderers go on to kill again. And again.

MYTH:
no one has ever died as a result of using marijuana

TRUTH:
Jonathan Magbie died as a result of using marijuana

correction on the myth debunked:

no one has ever died as a result of using marijuana

Jonathan Magbie died as a result of marijuana being illegal...not from using it...another prohibition linked death

Seriously. Does she have immunity from such a charge? Do they have such a crime in DC? Any lawyers out there who know? She really should be charged with negligent manslaughter.