State Courts
Feature: Censorship in South Dakota -- Marijuana Activist Silenced By Judge as Condition of Probation
For most of this decade, Bob Newland has been the voice of marijuana law reform in South Dakota.
South Dakota Judge Sentences Marijuana Reform Activist to Shut Up
Posted in Chronicle Blog by Phillip Smith on Tue, 07/07/2009 - 3:39pmSouth Dakota's most well-known marijuana legalization advocate, Bob Newland, was sentenced yesterday to a year in the Pennington County Jail with all but 45 days suspended for felony marijuana possession--a little less than four ounces. Once he does his time, he'll be on probation for a year. Newland can, I suppose, consider himself fortunate. According to the South Dakota Department of Corrections, there are currently six people imprisoned for possession of less than half a pound and seven for more than half but less than one pound, as well as 14 doing time for distribution of less than an ounce and another 25 doing time for distribution of less than a pound.
But in another respect, Newland is not so lucky. He has basically been stripped of his First Amendment right to advocate for marijuana legalization while he is on probation. As the Associated Press reported:
A longtime South Dakota supporter of legalized marijuana has been sentenced to serve 45 days in jail for possessing the illegal drug.
Authorities say Bob Newland of Hermosa was found with four bags of marijuana, a scale and $385 in cash when he was stopped for speeding in March.
He pleaded guilty in May to a possession charge under a plea agreement in which prosecutors agreed to drop a more serious charge of possession with intent to distribute.
Newland will be on probation for the rest of the year following his jail term. During his probation, he is barred from publicly advocating the legalization of marijuana for medicinal purposes.
Newland, understandably, is not inclined to challenge the probation condition. There's something about staring at the walls of a jail cell that does that to a guy. But that doesn't mean others shouldn't raise a stink about this arguably unconstititional sentence.
I'll be looking into this and will have a Chronicle story about it on Friday.
Medical Marijuana: Users, Growers Can Sue Over Police Raids, California Appeals Court Rules
In the first ruling of its kind, the California 3rd District Court of Appeal in Sacramento held Wednesday that medical marijuana patients and growers can sue police for illegally raiding their prop
Feature: American Nightmare -- Will Foster and Justice, Oklahoma Style
Will Foster became a poster child for the mindless cruelties of the drug war more than a decade ago.
Feature: Supreme Court Rejects Counties' Challenge to California's Medical Marijuana Law
The last serious challenge to California's medical marijuana law died an anticlimactic death Monday as the US Supreme Court refused to hear appeals from two California counties that rejected the la
Search and Seizure: Supreme Court Limits Police Car Search Powers
A narrowly divided US Supreme Court Tuesday refused to expand police search powers at the expense of privacy rights, ruling that police cannot search a suspect's vehicle after the suspect has been
Feature: Twenty Years of Drug Courts -- Results and Misgivings
The drug court phenomenon celebrates its 20th birthday this year.
Feature: Is This the Year New York's Rockefeller Drug Laws Will Be Repealed?
For more than 35 years, New York state has had the dubious distinction of having some of the country's worst drug laws, the Rockefeller drug laws passed in 1973.
Drug Raids: Virginia Man Found Guilty of Manslaughter in Shooting of Police Officer Battering His Door Down
A Virginia jury on Wednesday convicted Ryan Frederick (see his MySpace page here)
Sentencing: Texas Judges Call for Reducing Drug Possession Penalties
Canada: BC Supreme Court Rejects Challenge to Marijuana Law
The British Columbia Supreme Court last Friday rejected a challenge to the country's law criminalizing marijuana possession based on deficiencies in Canada's medical marijuana regime.
Religious Freedom: Arizona Supreme Court to Hear Case on Spiritual Right to Marijuana
The Arizona Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to take up a case where the appellant is arguing that he has a constitutionally-protected right to use and possess marijuana as a sacrament of his church.
Marijuana: Arizona Supreme Court to Hear Case Asserting Religious Right to Use, Possess
The Arizona Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to decide whether there is a religious right to possess marijuana.
Medical Marijuana: Maine Activist Wins Acquittal on Growing, Trafficking Charges
Long-time Maine medical marijuana and marijuana legalization advocate Donald Christen is innocent of marijuana cultivation and trafficking, a jury found last week as it acquitted him of the charges
Medical Marijuana: California Supreme Court Tightens Definition of "Caregiver," Ruling Will Push Patients Toward Co-ops and Dispensaries
In a narrow interpretation of the state's Compassionate Use Act, the California Supreme Court ruled Monday that people who supply medical marijuana to an approved patient can be prosecuted as drug
Press Release: California Supreme Court Strikes Down "Caregiver" Defense for 215 Growers - People V. Mentch
Posted in In the Trenches by David Guard on Mon, 11/24/2008 - 5:09pmCal NORML Release - Nov. 24, 2008
Cal Supreme Court Rules Prop 215 Caregivers Must Do More Than Just Supply Marijuana
In a blow to medical marijuana providers, the California Supreme Court ruled that defendants are not entitled to a defense as Prop 215 caregivers if their primary role is only to supply marijuana to patients. The court unanimously overruled an appellate court decision in the case People v Roger Mentch", writing:
"We hold that a defendant whose caregiving consisted principally of supplying marijuana and instructing on its use, and who otherwise only sporadically took some patients to medical appointments, cannot qualify as a primary caregiver under the Act and was not entitled to an instruction on the primary caregiver affirmative defense. We further conclude that nothing in the Legislature's subsequent 2003 Medical Marijuana Program (Health & Saf. Code, § 11362.7 et seq.) alters this conclusion or offers any additional defense on this record."
Full text of the decision may be found at http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/opinions/documents/S148204.PDF
Prop 215 defines primary caregiver to be the "individual designated by the [patient]... who has consistently assumed responsibility for the housing, health, or safety of that person." According to the Court, these words " imply a caretaking relationship directed at the core survival needs of a seriously ill patient, not just one single pharmaceutical need."
The Court concluded, " a defendant asserting primary caregiver status must prove at a minimum that he or she (1) consistently provided caregiving, (2) independent of any assistance in taking medical marijuana, (3) at or before the time he or she assumed responsibility for assisting with medical marijuana."
The Court's ruling effectively limits the caregiver defense to relatives, personal friends and attendants, nurses, etc. In particular, it excludes its use by medical marijuana "buyers' clubs," retail dispensaries and delivery services.
The remaining legal defense for medical marijuana providers is to organize as patient cooperatives and collectives, which are legal under SB 420.
"The Mentch decision highlights the inadequacy of California's current medical marijuana supply system," said Cal NORML coordinator Dale Gieringer. "The law needs to allow for professional licensed growers , as with other medicinal herbs."
- D. Gieringer Cal NORML
--
Dale Gieringer - dale@canorml.org
California NORML, 2215-R Market St. #278, San
Francisco CA 94114 -(415) 563- 5858 -
www.canorml.org
Medical Marijuana: ASA Files Lawsuit Against California DMV Over Patient Drivers' License Revocation
The medical marijuana advocacy group Americans for Safe Access (ASA) filed a
Evidence: Supreme Court Hears Oral Arguments in Drug Crime Lab Case
The US Supreme Court Monday heard oral arguments in Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts (No.
Medical Marijuana: Montana Supreme Court Okays Use By Probationers, Parolees
The Montana Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that courts there cannot order medical marijuana patients to refrain from using their medicine as a condition of probation or parole.
