thanks, the Nixon reference includes me too. What could we have done as kids against a machine like Nixon? No, but his lies are still lies and all the Ganja laws are based on his one lie 40 years ago, making claims about Ganja that were not true and scheduled it as a class#1 narcotic. So separating the tokers into lumps that get different treatment for doing the same things, for something proven less harmful than the legal booze and cigarettes and foreign police actions called wars. It is still a lie and Nixon still sucks and compromising for lies end up with rich politicians investing in buyers clubs.

Medicinal Pot Caregivers Can Be Persecuted By Jennifer Squires
CN Source: Santa Cruz Sentinel November 24, 2008 Santa Cruz, CA

Medicinal marijuana caregivers may be prosecuted as drug dealers, according to a state Supreme Court ruling issued Monday.

The ruling upholds a Santa Cruz County Superior Court jury decision that found medicinal marijuana user Roger Mentch, 53, guilty of cultivating and possessing marijuana for sale.

Mentch, who was arrested by sheriff's deputies in 2003, claimed he was a caregiver for five medicinal marijuana patients. He also opened the Hemporium, a medicinal marijuana collective in Felton, where he sometimes sold the pot he grew.

"I was a caregiver with honest intent," Mentch said.

When jurors found him guilty and he was sentenced to three years probation, Mentch appealed the decision on several points, including that jurors were not properly instructed about medicinal marijuana caregivers. The three-member 6th District Court of Appeals agreed with him and overturned the jury's ruling.

However, the seven justices on the state Supreme Court reached a different conclusion. The court ruled primary caregivers must have an established care-giving relationship with the patient prior to providing that patient with medicinal marijuana, according to the decision.

Also, primary caregivers can only provide pot to those patients, not sell the drug to other medicinal users or collectives.

Therefore, Mentch's sales to the Hemporium and another collective in the county amounted to dealing drugs on a street corner, according to the court ruling.

The court stated that those acts "do nothing to insulate from prosecution for his cultivation of and sale of marijuana for those for whom he did not provide shelter or nonmarijuana-based health care... nor would it protect him from prosecution for cultivating marijuana and providing it to cannabis clubs."

Santa Cruz attorney Ben Rice, who is representing Mentch in a 2006 marijuana cultivation and sales case, said the court ruling is unfortunate because it makes it harder for medicinal marijuana patients who have a valid medical recommendation to obtain pot.

California voters approved Proposition 215 in 1996, giving ill people the right to use marijuana legally as long as they have a prescription from a doctor. However, the law did not outline how medicinal marijuana could be distributed.

"There's no direction in the law, no explanation as to how people are supposed to get their medicine if they can't grow it themselves," Rice said. "It's an unworkable situation."

The Mentch decision narrowly defines the role of caregiver, but does not affect cooperatives, including the Hemporium and the Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana in Santa Cruz, according to local medicinal marijuana advocates.

Valerie Corral, one of the co-founders of WAMM, supported the court decision.

"It further defines the role of caregivers and makes it clear. It's a great way for people to understand our roles as caregivers and how we have to assume something more," Corral said.

WAMM, a collective of patients and caregivers, provides medicinal marijuana to ill patients. But Corral said WAMM goes beyond picking up a patient's medicine by providing a community of support for ill members.

"We're at people's bedsides," she said.

Mentch, who continues to operate the Hemporium, said he still has hope his case will turn out differently. The court system apparently only addressed three of 10 issues brought up on appeal and he believes the case will be returned to a lower court for further analysis.

Complete Title: Medicinal Pot Caregivers Can Be Prosecuted for Selling Drugs, Court Rules

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Ya, when the wise men fall... Healthy people smoking marijuana should die. Fersher... Rape them in prison, take away their job. Kick em out of school if they're in, keep em out if they ain't. Deny them public housing, foodstamps and Pell grants. For Life. Kick down their doors if it smells like skunk. But annonymous tips and plea bargained snitches, are more consistant.. The seniors and Hospice in HUD housing can't risk eviction by growing. Forcing them to give up something just to pay for Ganja medicine or give up and have the insurance pay for white powders. Or loose the home for signing up, properly. Catch 22, DejaVu!

Now more snipers can put 8 bullets into more Rainbow Farm warriors heads. Liberty robbed from the poor to give to the rich, and their security forces. More D.E.A.th to the people. Believe in an assumtion, that started on lies? Pitifuckinful display if I ever did see one... "Valerie Corral supported the court decision." Sounds more like a plea bargain public service message. Santa Cruz attorney Ben Rice says... "It's an unworkable situation." "There's no direction in the law, no explanation as to how people are supposed to get their medicine if they can't grow it themselves," The Citizens Prop 215 is still the law of the land! No Judge can Legislate. No Politician or Cop can veto a Citizens Initiative. These authoritahs just don't get it.
They're not necessary.