A Medical Marijuana Patient's Long Road to Victory

Posted by 21pc on November 07, 2007
Nate. R. is a medical marijuana patient living in Orange County, California who uses marijuana to treat clinical depression. I wanted to write this post to let others who are qualified patients know that the law is here to work for us. I found this out on October 29th, 2007 when I went to my preliminary hearing at the Harbor Justice Center courthouse in the City of Newport Beach to find that the District Attorney had dismissed charges of Possession of Concentrated Cannabis 11357 (A) of the Health and Safety code. Lets rewind this back to 5 months ago when the incident in question took place. I was arrested on May 5th 2007 in Newport Beach, Orange County, CA for being in possession of .2 grams of hashish. I was no stranger to medical marijuana and knew the laws that were put in place for us. I have read these numerous times and can recite them, I have also studied that Attorney General's opinion on concentrated cannabis and the conclusion that hashish as well as any other concentrated cannabis is protected under Prop 215 and SB 420. With this information in hand, I knew that this was covered and never thought twice about being in possession of hashish. As I found out the hard way, not all law enforcement agencies feel the same way. I was originally going to be cited for possession of marijuana since I also had 2.5 grams of marijuana, but once the officer noticed the hashish, he stated that it as well as marijuana is illegal under federal law. Knowing that city police officers were not under federal jurisdiction, I felt I should question the officer on this statement. I had asked the officer "Are you telling me that prop 215 and SB 420 are not valid laws?" To this the officer promptly replied "Under federal law possession is still illegal and we have been instructed to follow it as such". At this point the officer also informed me that possession of hashish is a felony and that he was placing me under arrest. I had to be bailed out of jail that night so I would be able to go to work the next day. Going to the first court date for arraignment I was not sure what was going to happen. I can honestly say I was scared. I have been a tax paying citizen of Orange County all my life and never once had I been in trouble with the law so this was all new to me. At court I was assigned a public defender to handle my case. While I was giving my interview to the public defender, he had asked for a copy of my recommendation so they could make copies. On my next court date that was my pre trial I find out that a new public defender had been assigned to my case and at that point got to meet her. As we were talking about the case she asked if I have a copy of my recommendation to which I responded that I had already given this to them. Come to find out they had lost my recommendation out of my file. Once again court dates pushed forward for another month. I show up to my next pre-trial date but this time with an attorney specializing in medical marijuana cases. Due to me getting a new attorney we once again had to push the court dates up yet another month. At this point it is starting to get ridiculous, not to mention costly. We show up for the next court date for my preliminary hearing this time to see if I am going to be bound over to the Superior Court for jury trial - keep in mind the whole time I am going through this the DA is wanting me to plead out and take a felony hit on my record all over .2 grams of hashish even though I am a qualified patient. We were in the middle of filing a motion for dismissal to the courts since the District Attorney was not willing to drop the case. Of course this prompted yet another court date which pushed it a month and a half later into October. Back to October 29th 2007, we are sitting in court waiting to be called and finally my name is called. The judge asked if we as well as the prosecutor were ready to which we both said we were. After waiting about 30 minutes the District Attorney comes into the court room and walks up to my attorney. She asks him if we have any witnesses to which he responded yes that we had two since I and another patient who was with me the night I was arrested were there to testify. The reason for the other patient to be there is due to the fact that my recommendation was taken from me that night and never returned, it was never entered into evidence nor was it placed into my property bag. This was brought up to the prosecutor and she was not sure how to handle it as she did not have any experiences with medical marijuana cases. Due to this she went downstairs to the District Attorney's office and spoke with another person that is well versed in the laws. After waiting 30 minutes the prosecutor walks upstairs to inform my attorney that they will not be proceeding with the case and were dismissing charges. This was the best news I had heard. I can for one speak on the fact that going through hearings and court is one of the most trying times that one can experience. I am thankful for the support of the medical marijuana community that has been shown to me. It is easy to lose faith and want to give up and it is so important to have a strong support group for the person going through something like this. I also would like to thank ASA as they have been there for me from the beginning to the end and assisted in every way they could.