Pinch
Well-Known Member
San Joaquin County, CA - One of those media-ready supporters of medical marijuana this week declared San Joaquin County a "rogue" pocket of defiant cops and prosecutors who refuse to accept 1996's Medical Marijuana Initiative.
Is that so?
Well, a Lodi man applied a year ago to open a medical-marijuana dispensary in Stockton. The council voted to study the issue. Judging by the length of time that has elapsed, council members are studying the issue in remarkable depth. World-expert depth.
And then there is the trial, or retrial, of Aaron Paradiso.
Paradiso, 27, of Stockton (technically he lives in the county) is fighting charges he grew marijuana with intent to sell it.
Paralyzed in all limbs, Paradiso says he grows pot legally with a doctor's recommendation and uses it to ease his muscle spasms and back pain.
At Paradiso's first trial, Judge Terrence Van Oss certainly sounded roguish when he gratuitously proclaimed his dislike of the medical-marijuana law. "The voters," he said in court, "unfortunately didn't understand the issues at all."
But the retrial of Paradiso has more-complex motives than Van Oss's blunt-spoken conservatism.
First, Paradiso wasn't growing marijuana just for himself; he was growing it for his brother, friend and mother: 50 to 80 plants in all. He contends that was legal.
Secondly, said District Attorney Jim Willett, "We believe it's being distributed beyond that little circle." That would be illegal.
Third, the narcs who raided Paradiso's house found guns. That is a side issue. But the point is the case is more complicated than it looks.
The reality is that the spirit of Proposition 215 is clearer than the letter. The law allowed medical marijuana, but it did not specify how much.
This put cops in a ticklish situation. Suddenly outlaws growing plantations for sale have doctor's recommendations. Wheelchair-bound growers are growing suspiciously large gardens. Who's legit? Who's not?
Police busted a home in the Pixie Drive area that had been converted into a giant marijuana greenhouse robo-farmed by sophisticated machinery. But when the home's owner produced a medical-marijuana patient card, the D.A. declined to prosecute.
And for every citizen upset when cops bust a neighbor's pot patch, there's one upset when they don't, said Deputy Police Chief Blair Ulring. "They're extremely upset when we allow them to grow marijuana next door. And they just can't believe it."
Not to mention that federal law still outlaws any marijuana. John Drummond, Assistant San Joaquin County sheriff, got a laugh-out-loud line out of this legal disparity, if you recall former Sheriff Baxter Dunn's federal trial.
"We don't want to make the feds mad," Drummond said. "We have a little history of making the feds mad. We don't want to go down that road again."
A law to clarify Proposition 215 suggested 12 pot plants as the standard for personal use. But local law enforcement agencies still go case by case.
In 2002, Willet wrote guidelines for cops handling marijuana-cultivation cases. The guidelines say no longer to bust every grower and rip out the cannabis plants but to look for evidence that the pot is being grown for sale.
"A dozen or so plants, you'll have no problem from the local government, none, absolutely none," Willett said.
Fair enough.
But the D.A. had a "but." "I believe that the voters with the medical-marijuana initiative voted with the picture of an AIDS-stricken person, cancer-stricken person, even glaucoma-stricken person in mind," Willett said. "But not to decriminalize marijuana sales."
So local cops don't sound rogue, although the loose aspects of the law do leave room for mean-spirited abuse.
Paradiso claims he proves that.
"They seized my medication," he said, vowing to prevail in court.
Source: Recordnet.com
Copyright: Copyright © 2005 The Record, All Rights Reserved.
Contact: Fitzgerald at P.O. Box 900, Stockton, CA 95201; (209) 546-8270; fax (209) 547-8186; or michaelf@recordnet.com.
Website: https://www.recordnet.com/daily/news/articles/052505-gn-6.php
Is that so?
Well, a Lodi man applied a year ago to open a medical-marijuana dispensary in Stockton. The council voted to study the issue. Judging by the length of time that has elapsed, council members are studying the issue in remarkable depth. World-expert depth.
And then there is the trial, or retrial, of Aaron Paradiso.
Paradiso, 27, of Stockton (technically he lives in the county) is fighting charges he grew marijuana with intent to sell it.
Paralyzed in all limbs, Paradiso says he grows pot legally with a doctor's recommendation and uses it to ease his muscle spasms and back pain.
At Paradiso's first trial, Judge Terrence Van Oss certainly sounded roguish when he gratuitously proclaimed his dislike of the medical-marijuana law. "The voters," he said in court, "unfortunately didn't understand the issues at all."
But the retrial of Paradiso has more-complex motives than Van Oss's blunt-spoken conservatism.
First, Paradiso wasn't growing marijuana just for himself; he was growing it for his brother, friend and mother: 50 to 80 plants in all. He contends that was legal.
Secondly, said District Attorney Jim Willett, "We believe it's being distributed beyond that little circle." That would be illegal.
Third, the narcs who raided Paradiso's house found guns. That is a side issue. But the point is the case is more complicated than it looks.
The reality is that the spirit of Proposition 215 is clearer than the letter. The law allowed medical marijuana, but it did not specify how much.
This put cops in a ticklish situation. Suddenly outlaws growing plantations for sale have doctor's recommendations. Wheelchair-bound growers are growing suspiciously large gardens. Who's legit? Who's not?
Police busted a home in the Pixie Drive area that had been converted into a giant marijuana greenhouse robo-farmed by sophisticated machinery. But when the home's owner produced a medical-marijuana patient card, the D.A. declined to prosecute.
And for every citizen upset when cops bust a neighbor's pot patch, there's one upset when they don't, said Deputy Police Chief Blair Ulring. "They're extremely upset when we allow them to grow marijuana next door. And they just can't believe it."
Not to mention that federal law still outlaws any marijuana. John Drummond, Assistant San Joaquin County sheriff, got a laugh-out-loud line out of this legal disparity, if you recall former Sheriff Baxter Dunn's federal trial.
"We don't want to make the feds mad," Drummond said. "We have a little history of making the feds mad. We don't want to go down that road again."
A law to clarify Proposition 215 suggested 12 pot plants as the standard for personal use. But local law enforcement agencies still go case by case.
In 2002, Willet wrote guidelines for cops handling marijuana-cultivation cases. The guidelines say no longer to bust every grower and rip out the cannabis plants but to look for evidence that the pot is being grown for sale.
"A dozen or so plants, you'll have no problem from the local government, none, absolutely none," Willett said.
Fair enough.
But the D.A. had a "but." "I believe that the voters with the medical-marijuana initiative voted with the picture of an AIDS-stricken person, cancer-stricken person, even glaucoma-stricken person in mind," Willett said. "But not to decriminalize marijuana sales."
So local cops don't sound rogue, although the loose aspects of the law do leave room for mean-spirited abuse.
Paradiso claims he proves that.
"They seized my medication," he said, vowing to prevail in court.
Source: Recordnet.com
Copyright: Copyright © 2005 The Record, All Rights Reserved.
Contact: Fitzgerald at P.O. Box 900, Stockton, CA 95201; (209) 546-8270; fax (209) 547-8186; or michaelf@recordnet.com.
Website: https://www.recordnet.com/daily/news/articles/052505-gn-6.php
