Medical Marijuana and Young Patients
Lately there has been a small burst of media fascination with what by most accounts is a rare occurrence: Use of medical marijuana recommended by a physician by patients under 18. Any psychoactive drug, including marijuana, should be used with caution in children, but there is no reason that these infrequent cases should be shocking. Indeed, they should be taken as signposts on the road to urgently-needed research. [Read more →]
November 23, 2009 24 Comments
Congressman Farr introduces medical marijuana legislation
Congressman Sam Farr (D-Calif.) introduced the Truth In Trials Act of 2009 today (H.R. 3939), a bill that would give medical marijuana patients and providers the ability to argue in federal court that their actions were legal under state law.
Currently, a federal judge cannot consider state-level legality during a medical marijuana case. For example, Charles Lynch, a California resident who was on trial for operating a medical marijuana clinic that by all accounts operated in compliance with state law, was unable to defend himself by citing California’s medical marijuana law. And consequently, Lynch received a year-long jail sentence. He’s just one of more than 100 people who were prosecuted under federal law during the Bush administration while being denied the right to defend themselves adequately in court.
The Truth In Trials Act would provide an affirmative defense for medical marijuana patients operating within the bounds of state law. If passed, it will protect patients and providers from disgraceful prosecutions in federal court.
While the Truth In Trials Act represents only a small step in the fight for substantive, national medical marijuana reforms, it will bring a fundamental fairness to federal medical marijuana trials. Please write your member of Congress and ask him or her to co-sponsor this bill. At MPP’s online action center, writing Congress is quick and easy.
October 27, 2009 11 Comments
366 days for Charles Lynch
We just got word that Charlie Lynch was sentenced to one year and one day in federal prison for providing patients with medical marijuana in accordance with state law.
While the judge in Lynch’s case did depart from the five-year mandatory minimum sentence, it’ll still be an outrage for Charlie to spend even one day behind bars for his acts of compassion – especially given his compliance with state law. This man’s life has already been turned upside down thanks to the mean-spirited county sheriff who ignored state law and called in Bush-era DEA thugs, as well as the unjust law that didn’t allow Charlie to discuss medical marijuana in front of a jury.
Charlie and his attorneys say they plan to appeal, and we hope they succeed. With federal law enforcement at the Mexican border so overwhelmed that traffickers coming through with up to 500 pounds of marijuana are let go, even one more penny spent persecuting a man who is not a criminal in any rational sense of the word is an outrageous waste of resources.
Fortunately, Charlie has been released on bail pending the outcome of his appeal.
June 11, 2009 54 Comments
Charles C. Lynch sentencing this week
The long, sad story of Charles C. Lynch should take a major turn this Thursday, June 11, when Judge George Wu is expected to finally determine a sentence for the federally-prosecuted but state-legal medical marijuana provider. MPP has joined Charlie’s defense team and many supporters in calling for as lenient a sentence as possible in this tragic case of federal interference with California’s voter-approved state law.
Our friends over at Reason TV released this new video, aptly set to the tune of “Whipping Boy” by Chris Darrow, to help raise awareness of Charlie’s plight.
June 8, 2009 27 Comments
Lynch sentencing delayed – again
After a lengthy hearing, Judge George Wu once again deferred his sentencing decision in the case of the federally prosecuted California medical marijuana provider, Charles C. Lynch.
Judge Wu indicated that he’s leaning toward a more lenient sentence than the five-year mandatory minimum sought by the federal prosecutor and said he needs a way around the mandatory minimum and alternatives to prison for Lynch, who operated his medical marijuana collective in compliance with state and local law.
April 24, 2009 21 Comments
