SirBlazinBowl
New Member
The Burbank City Attorney's Office on Thursday dropped a misdemeanor drug possession charge against a Santa Cruz medical marijuana patient who was cited in July at the Bob Hope Airport, the ACLU said Thursday. The charge against Valerie Corral, who was detained when screeners allegedly spotted marijuana in her carry-on bag, was dismissed.
She was cited by police even though she had a Santa Cruz County-issued medical marijuana card, authorized under the state's Compassionate Use Act, said her attorney, Christina Alvarez, with the American Civil Liberties Union Drug Law Reform Project. Police wrote her a misdemeanor drug possession citation, which carried a $100 fine, and her marijuana was seized. The ACLU took up her case, and challenged the citation in court.
The city attorney dropped the charge in a hearing in Burbank Superior Court on Thursday, but refused to clear her misdemeanor record, declaring her factually guilty, an issue the ACLU said it will challenge in court. As a result, if Corral were ever convicted of a federal crime, she could get an enhanced sentence, Alvarez said. A call to the City Attorney's Office for comment was not returned. "The police had absolutely no reason to doubt that Ms. Corral was a legal patient once they saw her identification card," said Alvarez. "It should have ended there. Instead, they wasted Ms. Corral's time and the court's time by ignoring well-established California law."
Corral uses marijuana to quell seizures that are caused by head trauma she suffered in a car crash years ago. She is the co-founder of the Santa Cruz-based Women's Alliance for Medical Marijuana. She is also a high-profile activist and plaintiff in a lawsuit against the federal government's law against pot use for medical purposes.
Under a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling, the federal government can prosecute people for marijuana possession even if they have a doctor's recommendation and live in a state that approves of it. California's Compassionate Use Act, passed in 1998, allows patients with their doctor's OK to legally use pot for medical purposes, and California Attorney General Bill Lockyer has said that the federal mandate has no impact on state law.
"We intend to challenge this policy until we gain a factual finding of innocence from the city attorney," Alvarez said.
Newshawk: SirBlazinBowl - 420Times.com
Source: Los Angeles Daily News (CA)
Copyright: 2005 Los Angeles Daily News
Contact: Website: https://www.DailyNews.com/
Website: https://www.dailynews.com/Stories/0,1413,200%7E21664%7E,00.html
Author: Jason Kandel
She was cited by police even though she had a Santa Cruz County-issued medical marijuana card, authorized under the state's Compassionate Use Act, said her attorney, Christina Alvarez, with the American Civil Liberties Union Drug Law Reform Project. Police wrote her a misdemeanor drug possession citation, which carried a $100 fine, and her marijuana was seized. The ACLU took up her case, and challenged the citation in court.
The city attorney dropped the charge in a hearing in Burbank Superior Court on Thursday, but refused to clear her misdemeanor record, declaring her factually guilty, an issue the ACLU said it will challenge in court. As a result, if Corral were ever convicted of a federal crime, she could get an enhanced sentence, Alvarez said. A call to the City Attorney's Office for comment was not returned. "The police had absolutely no reason to doubt that Ms. Corral was a legal patient once they saw her identification card," said Alvarez. "It should have ended there. Instead, they wasted Ms. Corral's time and the court's time by ignoring well-established California law."
Corral uses marijuana to quell seizures that are caused by head trauma she suffered in a car crash years ago. She is the co-founder of the Santa Cruz-based Women's Alliance for Medical Marijuana. She is also a high-profile activist and plaintiff in a lawsuit against the federal government's law against pot use for medical purposes.
Under a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling, the federal government can prosecute people for marijuana possession even if they have a doctor's recommendation and live in a state that approves of it. California's Compassionate Use Act, passed in 1998, allows patients with their doctor's OK to legally use pot for medical purposes, and California Attorney General Bill Lockyer has said that the federal mandate has no impact on state law.
"We intend to challenge this policy until we gain a factual finding of innocence from the city attorney," Alvarez said.
Newshawk: SirBlazinBowl - 420Times.com
Source: Los Angeles Daily News (CA)
Copyright: 2005 Los Angeles Daily News
Contact: Website: https://www.DailyNews.com/
Website: https://www.dailynews.com/Stories/0,1413,200%7E21664%7E,00.html
Author: Jason Kandel
