>Sender: >To: >X-Original-Message-ID: <037301bf2879$03fcdb80$9acf69cf@pacbell.net> >From: "Peter McWilliams" >Subject: LA Times/AP story on defensicide >Date: Sat, 6 Nov 1999 09:04:40 -0800 >X-Mozilla-Status: 8001 >X-Mozilla-Status2: 00000000 > > >Los Angeles Times >November 6, 1999 > >Judge Bars Medical Need, Prop. 215 as Basis for Defense in Marijuana Trial > > >From Associated Press > > A federal judge ruled Friday that two medical marijuana activists >cannot use necessity as a defense in their upcoming drug trial. > They also cannot refer to their medical conditions, the medical uses of >marijuana or California's Proposition 215, which allowed the personal use of >marijuana for medical purposes, said U.S. District Judge George King. > Todd McCormick, who has bone cancer, and Peter McWilliams, who has AIDS >and cancer in remission, are accused of growing and distributing marijuana. > They were arrested after federal officials found more than 6,000 plants >growing in a Bel-Air mansion and three other leased locations in Los Angeles >County. > McWilliams, a self-help publisher, is accused of financing the >operation. McCormick and others are accused of growing the pot and trying to >sell it to the Los Angeles Cannabis Buyers Club, which has dispensed the >drug since Californians voted in 1996 to legalize it for medical use. > They are scheduled to stand trial Nov. 16. > McWilliams said he was devastated by the decision. "It's frustrating to >be in a state where voters voted that I can have this medication," he said. >"I am needlessly dying at the prime of my career." > A spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office refused to comment beyond >the judge's ruling. > McWilliams said he has admitted growing marijuana for his own use. He >says he can only keep down his AIDS medication by smoking marijuana and that >his health has suffered since his arrest in July 1998. > King's ruling disallowed a defense based on medical necessity because >it "is not available as a matter of law," since Congress has ruled marijuana >has no medical merit. Proposition 215 recognizes some medical benefits, but >U.S. officials say state laws do not apply to federal offenses. > > > >================================================================ > >This message is sent to you because you are subscribed to > the mailing list . >To unsubscribe, E-mail to: