Handicapped Vet. Ken Unger's Medical Marijuana Trial Public Event

[MedicalNeed]

Ken Unger would like to invite everyone to come to the St. Charles Missouri court house for the pre-trial protest, to help him to get the point across that he his a Medical Cannabis Patient.
The trial is set for Tuesday, November 13, 2012 at 9 am

Kenneth Unger

“I feel like I’m totally trapped. I’m not allowed anything for pain relief other than the opium morphine and I don’t want to be a morphine addict.”--Ken Unger

Ken Unger was serving in Grenada with the U.S. Navy when he was hit in the head with a 50 ton crane hook in 1983. Ken now suffers daily with two herniated disks, weakness and muscle spasms, plus pain and numbness in the legs. Ken also suffers from diabetes, depression, and has an artery bypass in one of his legs plus a total of six coronary stints holding the arteries open in his heart. He was deemed 100% disabled by the St. Louis, MO Veterans Association.

Ken Unger

For pain management, Ken was prescribed morphine, which he believes was responsible for three; count them, three heart attacks. Morphine also made Ken unable to take care of normal everyday activities, and Ken was (and is still) afraid to take morphine and become an addict for the rest of his life. To his relief, he found an alternative in marijuana. Marijuana has been able to alleviate Ken’s pain that was caused by the military service related injury, plus marijuana helps with Ken’s depression. More importantly, Ken is able to function with marijuana, whereas with morphine he was not.

Ken Unger talks about living in constant pain, which is the reason he says he grew and smoked marijuana. Unger faces felony charges after being arrested last September.

Ken has a wonderful wife and a bright young son, and to be able to take care of his son properly as well as enjoy life with his family, Ken made the risky choice to use medical marijuana. This is risky because, in the State of Missouri, marijuana is illegal. There are no compassionate use laws that allow medical marijuana to be used by Missouri’s ill and injured, even when doctors know it would be the best medical choice for their patients. To be able to afford his medication, and to be able to know that the medication was pure, Ken began to grow marijuana for his own medical consumption. However, law enforcement agents raided his home, and arrested this freedom fighter for his choice to use a medication that provides him with a quality of health that no prescription or over-the-counter pill could provide to him.

So now, after Ken has worked to defend the freedom of every American, Ken fights for his own freedom in the courtroom. If convicted of his felony charge, Ken faces 5 to 15 years in prison. It just seems that something is not quite right about this. Ken was injured while working toward a freer America, and when he found the right medication to treat his injury, we are spending our tax dollars to lock him up for that and strip him of his freedom? Does that seem right to you?

By: Erica Warren

Update: 11/4/2011
Ken Unger’s charges have been amended and now if convicted he will receive a minimum of 15 years in prison up to a maximum of 30 years in prison.

CPN Interviews Ken Unger of Missouri 2011 - YouTube
Above Video: CPN Interviews Ken Unger of Missouri 2011


Medical marijuana patient Ken Unger persecuted by cops in Missouri - YouTube
Above Video: Medical marijuana patient Ken Unger persecuted by cops in Missouri



Remember The POWs In The War On Drugs - Part 2 - YouTube

Above Video: Remember The POWs In The War On Drugs – Part 2

 

[TriXteR]

Thank you for sharing Ken's story. One quick correction, his trial date is November 13 at 9 am. Here is a link to the Facebook event with the necessary information for those wishing to attend his trial.

 

[MedicalNeed]

This case should be BIG in the state of Missouri, this same court has all ready shyed away from triaing past Medical Patients due to being afraid of Setting Precedent no matter how the trial comes out.


Charges dropped against man who grew pot as medicine : Stltoday

ST. CHARLES COUNTY - Prosecutors have dismissed felony drug charges against a man who said he was growing marijuana for medical reasons.

Kenneth R. Wells, 57, of St. Charles County, was charged in 2008 after a house fire led investigators to find plants that added up to 1.4 pounds of marijuana in his basement. He said he used the marijuana to deal with chronic epilepsy. His attorney, Wayne Schoeneberg, said he received a letter this week from Prosecutor Jack Banas' office saying Wells will not be prosecuted if he does not have any new violations during the next two years.

"I think that's a good resolution all around," Schoeneberg said.

Banas said the case dragged on for two years, and he was concerned about how a jury would view the facts. Wells had no prior convictions, and there was no evidence he tried to sell or give the marijuana to anyone else, Banas said.

Wells said he was glad the charges were dropped. "I've been confident all along that there was something wrong with the search procedures, and I always had hopes that we could get that exposed," he said.

Wells could have been sentenced to up to 15 years in prison if he were found guilty.

Circuit Judge Nancy Schneider had ruled against allowing Wells to use medical necessity as a defense. But Banas said keeping Wells' medical issues out of the case would have been difficult. Had jurors not found him guilty, it could have "muddied the waters" regarding the local legal system's approach to medicinal marijuana.

Both Banas and Schoeneberg said Wells' case is not a sign that prosecutors will turn a blind eye to those looking to grow the plant for their own use.

"Missouri is not one of those states that's going to run to the legalization side any time soon," Banas said. "It is still illegal to grow marijuana."

Said Schoeneberg: "I think it's a situation that applies specifically to the facts of this case. I would caution anybody who is getting involved with marijuana to not think that this is going to be the norm under any circumstances."

Wells said he no longer has any marijuana plants. He said he takes a variety of prescription drugs to help with pain and seizures. He said he had used marijuana as an "adjunct therapy."

"It's just something that helped more," he said.

News Hawk- MedicalNeed
Source: St. Louis Sports, News, Jobs, Classifieds, Entertainment & Weather
Author: SHANE ANTHONY
Contact: St. Louis Post-Dispatch contact information : Stltoday
Website:Charges dropped against man who grew pot as medicine : Stltoday