(Marijuananews note: The Register has consistently supported medical marijuana and the editorial page has actually been reporting on the Marvin Chavez case as a way of making its point.)

PROP 215 MANEUVERING

Another important step for the status of medical marijuana in general, and perhaps in some ways for the Chavez case, happens on Election Day, when voters in Alaska, Colorado, Nevada, Oregon and the District of Columbia will all have medical marijuana initiatives on the ballot. The outcome will indicate what voters in other states are thinking, two years after California’s Prop. 215 passed.

THE CHAVEZ CASE

After many delays this fall,the medical marijuana court case of Marvin Chavez is moving briskly.

It shouldn’t be long before a jury has the opportunity to consider whether Mr. Chavez was simply a clever marijuana seller, as the prosecution contends, or a patient and caregiver who was trying in good faith to implement Proposition 215 (now Section 11362.5 of the California Health and Safety Code), whereby voters in 1996 made it legal for people with a recommendation from licensed physicians to have access to marijuana.

On Tuesday, Orange County Superior Court Judge Frank F. Fasel, who had the case in his court for several months, transferred it downstairs to Division 5. There Judge Kazuharu Makino heard defense arguments to disqualify Deputy District Attorney Carl Armbrust from handling the case because of allegedly inflammatory and biased statements he had made to the press about the case. Judge Makino denied the motion, then transferred the case to West Court in Westminster, where Judge Thomas J. Borris picked up the hot potato.

The case is being watched as a potential precedent-setter in implementation of the controversial initiative.

Judge Borris on Tuesday familiarized himself with the case and took note of the fact that the prosecution had attempted to prevent the use of Section 11362.5 as a defense against the marijuana-selling charges and that Mr. Chavez’s attorneys had tried to allow the new law to be used as a defense.

This is a key question to be settled - if jurors are allowed to hear about Prop. 215, its intent and its adoption as part of the state health code, Mr. Chavez has a better chance of prevailing than if jurors only hear about the sales transaction itself.

Selling marijuana is illegal under federal law.

On Wednesday afternoon, Judge Borris dealt with whether he would allow the defense attorneys to claim a Prop. 215 defense.

He explained how he interpreted the statute and the two appellate decisions that have dealt with certain aspects of how the new law is to be handled in practice.

Then he heard arguments on the point from the lawyers.

A decision will be made after he hears from a witness, the person on whose behalf Mr. Chavez claims he was acting as caregiver.

Other developments could also influence the case:

This case is important because however it is decided it should offer firmer guidelines as to how patients who under the law have the right to use marijuana can get it legally.

It is a case we intend to follow closely, given the implications. After two years this law has still not been properly implemented. It is long past time to put it into practice.